Children of the Chinese Circus

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By Lesley Jackson, on 09-08-2008 19:20

Lesley Jackson’s eyes are widened as she is made witness to the suffering endured by the children training in the Shanghai Circus School. This expertly filmed and stark documentary by the BBC Storyville team raises many questions as to how far a child can be pushed to perform and with the timing coinciding with Olympics one cannot help but wonder at what cost such small gymnasts are made to pay.

A couple of years ago I went to see the Chinese State Circus perform along with the Shaolin Monks at Cambridge and the show was quite spectacular. Acrobatic feats of eye-popping achievements were performed with the human contortionist bending herself in two to entertain the audience. With the run up to the Olympics in Beijing in a few days, this documentary by the BBC Storyville team was expertly placed to give the audience a behind the scenes look at what goes on during the training for the small acrobats at the Shanghai Circus School. However, one couldn’t be prepared for the some of the shocking scenes that were exposed during this compelling documentary of the stark and degrading life endured by the children of the Chinese circus.

Constantly referred to as a brat, the clearly terrified boy is made to hold excruciating positions whilst being repeatedly told he is fat. - Lesley Jackson

Right from the beginning, as an audience we are aware of no narration with the only information given in the form of the occasional subtitle. It is a very effective tool as we are allowed to see for ourselves the pain, bullying and gruelling training the children are subjected to in order to perform their amazing feats. We follow the stories of several groups of children, none more miserable than the three youngsters trying to do a triple handstand and suffering immense amounts of verbal abuse when they just cannot perform to order. However, what we are then handstand 3.jpg party to is how endemic the scale of bullying is as the female trainer who cannot get her charges to balance is herself subjected to waves of verbal humiliation in a meeting with one of the senior leaders in the school.

Two children in particular stand out during this telling documentary. We follow the story of Xu Lu, aged nine, a tiny yet powerful trapeze acrobat desperately trying to perform a triple somersault. She is repeatedly berated for not making it and made to endure exercises that would make a grown man wince. We see the pain on her face as she dangles from the wooden bars lifting her weighted feet above her head with her trainer stating, “you got to do it anyway,” when her small body reaches its limit. Such are the choices one is given in a communist state’s circus school. What is most telling later on during a rehearsal just before a competition, she falls and lands in an awkward position. She is clearly in pain but is man-handled to the floor, ordered to stop crying and her shoulder sprayed so she can continue. As their trainer states to the young group before their performance, “whatever you are practising or performing, if you fall down, unless you are seriously injured, get up immediately.” I guess a broken collar bone or dislocated shoulder doesn’t count then.

Later though, a special type of venom is dished out to an eight year old boy called Cai Yong. A talented acrobat who works tirelessly to perform, the level of what can only be classed as cruelty is shocking. Every aspect of his life is criticised by his trainers and deaf parents. Constantly referred to as a brat, the clearly terrified boy is made to hold excruciating positions whilst being repeatedly told he is fat. Whilst being berated by four adults at one time and being betrayed by his parents, the small boy can only sit impassively as the verbal assault washes over him. Cleverly placed at the end of the documentary, we see Cai Yong’s amazing performance as he balances his body into shapes standing on one hand. Yet as an audience, we now know the cost of that performance which gives an ominous shadow over the display enjoyed by the audience.

	Strictly Baby Fight Club Now some people would accuse me of going soft but when I see the little dots I teach doing Taekwondo in their mini doboks you cannot help but admire their zest and enthusiasm as they learn all the aspects of this traditional martial art.

This gripping documentary stands as a stark contrast to the colourful displays given whilst on stage. From the older man’s damage to his vertebrae we can also see the physical damage over training at such a young age does but what of the psychological harm the constant verbal abuse? Not once did any of the children smile nor were they given a positive comment and this is where the skill of the documentary makers shines through as we are made to think about what the Chinese Olympic gymnastics team will have to endure to get the gold medals they will be expected to win.

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