Chapter 32 Section 4: Playing with pots and tricks

Playing jars and flower plates (one known as "cloud plate") has a long history."Nongping" in the early Han Dynasty, Nongju [beng] in the Sui Dynasty, and "Kicking Nongjia" in the Song Dynasty are all pioneers of this acrobatic art.In the Qing Dynasty, this acrobatics was greatly developed because it required a small venue for performance and was able to attract audiences.Jiang Shiquan, a dramatist in the early Qing Dynasty, recorded in his poem "Nong Basin":

Among them, the acrobats playing the basin performed difficult movements such as throwing the basin, receiving the basin, jacking the pole, receiving the pole, and turning the basin. From the content of the poem, it is estimated that the basin is not too big, similar to a small jar or a cloud plate.In the "Drama Category" of "Qing Barnyard Banknotes", Xu Ke compiled the moving story of the king of the capital.Tanzi Wang was a famous acrobat who performed in the capital during the Guangxu period. He was known as the master of juggling jars for a while, so that people gradually forgot his name and just called him Tanzi Wang.He can not only make the altar hover on his forehead, but also make the altar stand upright, upside down, turn vertically, and turn horizontally according to people's wishes, and he can make bowing, kneeling, and bowing while walking. It is he who can throw the jar up the roof beam, and when the jar rolls down, catch it with his forehead, with a finger, or even with his mouth, and make the jar wrap around his arms, shoulders, back, waist, feet, The hips rotate like a wind wheel, and while he is playing the jar, he can also do somersaults and jump up and down.The performance of the king of jars is not only acrobatics, but also incorporates profound martial arts and hard qigong, so it is called Tao at the time: