For my post today I am digging back into my picture archive.

While looking through my pictures I stumbled across a few pictures that I took in Shanghai back in early 2000.

The pictures were taken with an old Sony digital camera that stored the pictures on floppy disk. I am actually surprised that the pictures look as good as they do.

While conducting a training course in Shanghai we went to a Chinese circus.

A Chinese circus features acrobatics, and they were spectacular. In this picture we see an acrobat balancing on top of a stack of chairs. I can still remember watching the acrobat slowly build the stack under him as he balance himself on the top.

This performer balanced things on top of himself. This was the final feat as he balanced this large assemblage of benches on top of his head. As an engineer I can just imagine the total weight and how difficult it was to keep it balanced.

This was another amazing act. The acrobats were jumping through hoops that were positioned in different ways. This was one of the final feats. I wondered how high this acrobat could high jump using this technique. Probably high enough to easily win a High School competition.

The female acrobats were very flexible and it was amazing to see how they could bend their bodies. Especially while holding perfectly still.

Our seats were in the balcony of the old Shanghai Huxi Theater. We were in the front row and had a great view of the stage.

Today they have a new larger theater, but still hold shows in the old theater. I thought about going to see the circus again when I was in Shanghai earlier this year, but instead we decided to visit West Lake. Click on the link to see pictures from the trip. I am glad that we went, but am also looking forward to another trip to Shanghai so I can visit the circus again.

One last picture. I actually went hunting in the archives again to find this one. I knew that I had more pictures from the circus than the ones I was looking through. This was the end of another amazing segment of the show.

The segment started off with a male acrobat coming out on the stage and carrying a small duffel bag. He set it down and started to do handstands. All of a sudden the bag started to roll across the stage. He would pick it up and move it back to where he set it and start again. Of course, the bag would move again.

After several times, he unzipped the bag and out popped the little female acrobat in the container above. The went through a series of tumbling and acrobatic moves together before she performed on her own. This was the final move as she lowered herself into this cylinder. I can only imagine how she got out after they carried her back stage. 🙂

I hope that you enjoyed this memory of mine.

Steven