The story appears on

Page A12

November 1, 2014

GET this page in PDF

Free for subscribers

View shopping cart

Related News

Home » Feature » News Feature

Monkey trainers going bananas over lack of work

MONKEY trainer Bao Fengshan has not yet recovered from the recent shock of his arrest.

Four months ago, four trainers including Bao were detained by police when they and their monkeys were performing on the streets of Mudanjiang City in northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province. They were charged with not having a wildlife transportation license.

This time of year presents a lull in the farming season, usually one of the best periods for performances, but Bao has decided to stay home with his monkeys to avoid being arrested again.

In his small village in Xinye County, Henan Province, fellow performers listened to Bao’s experience and felt his anguish.

In late September, Bao and the other trainers were found guilty of illegally transporting rare wildlife. The court was lenient, however, allowing them to avoid criminal penalties.

Bao said he discovered one of his monkeys, Adan, 12, had died. He buried it on a mountain and left for home confused and with a broken heart.

“There are fewer places to perform our monkey circus,” the 51-year-old said.

Monkeys, represented by Sun Wukong, the Monkey King in the classic novel “Journey to the West,” are traditionally popular among Chinese people.

Monkey circuses are considered an art form in Xinye County and have been on Henan Province’s intangible cultural heritage list since 2009. Its origins date back over 2,000 years to the Eastern Han Dynasty (AD 25-220).

The circus does not require a stage or spotlight. All trainers need is a vacant lot. Trainers and their monkeys travel around the country and perform difficult routines to amuse crowds, who give applause and money at their discretion.

But over the past three decades, this traditional art has faced a dilemma as the country modernizes.

Wang Zhongxu, a trainer from Xinye, regularly performs with his monkeys on the streets in Jingmen City, Hubei Province. When spotting an urban management officer, or chengguan, he’s forced to quickly pack up his belongings and find somewhere else to perform. In many cases, the chengguan are coming for him.

He is accustomed to the lifestyle of traveling from place to place and looking for places to perform.

Railways, bus stations and vegetable markets are often ideal places to perform. But more cities are relocating railway and bus stations to the suburbs while supermarkets are replacing vegetable markets.

“Finding a proper vacant lot that can attract spectators while avoiding chengguan is very difficult,” he said.

Often difficult to obtain, wildlife transportation licenses are another sore point among Xinye’s monkey trainers.

Provincial forestry departments in both the departure and arrival point need to provide a license because some monkeys are under state protection, according to Peng Zhenfeng, an employee at the county’s forestry bureau.

Just like nomads

“We accept the application from performers, send it to the municipal government, which then sends it to the provincial government,” he said.

It is not easy since performers usually embark on their journey carrying just a backpack, usually during the offseason for farmers.

Zhang Junran, head of Xinye’s Monkey Art Association, said the trainers don’t have time to wait.

“They often don’t know where they will go next. They are like nomads,” he said.

Rising awareness of animal protection has also caused problems for monkey trainers.

Earlier this month, two men from Xinye who forced monkeys to perform tricks were expelled from Changsha, capital city of Hunan Province, after a resident called the city’s police, believing they had abused the animals.

“Monkeys are tamed, bred and used as performance tools. It is inhumane and harmful to animals,” Chinese animal welfare advocate Mang Ping has written on his Weibo microblog.

Such criticisms are a source of dismay to performers.

“Our monkeys are handed down from the older generations of the family. We treat them as family members,” said trainer Zhang Zhijie.

Limited performing space, misunderstandings over the treatment of the monkeys and lack of funds have pushed many monkey trainers in Xinye to find other jobs.

At one time Xinye had nearly 10,000 monkey trainers but today there are only about 300, Zhang said.

After hearing of the for detained in Heilongjiang, Yu Cheng, the youngest performer in the county at age 20, has decided to change his profession.

“I don’t know. Perhaps I will find a job in some bigger cities like other young people,” Yu said.

In order to gain public acceptance of the ancient tradition in a new era, the Xinye government and performers are working on a string of measures.

“We will let trainers wear uniforms with serial numbers and set up a complaints hotline,” Zhang said. “We hope to make the performances more professional and show the true face of the Chinese monkey circus.”

“I don’t believe the monkey performances passed down by my ancestors violates the law in today’s civilized world,” said monkey trainer Bao, who still grieves the loss of his friend Adan. “He could dance and shoot baskets.”




 

Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.

沪公网安备 31010602000204号

Email this to your friend