The eleventh Wuqiao International Acrobatics Festival is being held these days, attracting a great number of acrobatic troupes from 16 countries and regions. As a first-class acrobatics festival held in China once every two years, Wuqiao International Acrobatics Festival marks its 20th anniversary this year.

Chinanews, Shijiazhuang, Nov. 3 – Wuqiao, the acrobatics town in China, is also a land of legend. For once, thousands of acrobatics performers in Wuqiao left their hometown and knocked about the country to make a living. Now, they have settled in their hometown and make acrobatics become the leading industry in local region. Every year, hundreds of thousands of visitors from home and abroad will visit Wuqiao to watch acrobatics.   A century ago, some 2,000 acrobatics performers in Wuqiao went abroad to make a living on their acrobatic skills. Some of them travelled to Russia and European countries via northeast China and Inner Mongolia. They gave performances to local people on their way. Sometimes, it might take a year for the performing troupe to make a trip to Moscow. Now, local people can reach Moscow by only seven hours' flight.   According to old people's recall, at that time, acrobatics performers in Wuqiao had already travelled to more than 50 countries and regions in the world. Their wonderful skills had made everyone believe that the acrobatics in Wuqiao was the best in the world. In the acrobatics circle, there is a saying that an acrobatics troupe wouldn't be a good one without performers from Wuqiao. French acrobatics master Dominique Mauclair once said that as an ancient town, "Wuqiao is not only for China. It is also the cradle of acrobatics arts for the whole world."   Wang Baohe, a native of Wuqiao, witnessed the changes occurring in his hometown. He recalled that he started to learn acrobatics at the age of six. When he was 13 years old, he established his own acrobatics troupe and travelled abroad to make a living by giving performances. Now, Wang need not lead a vagrant life any more. He works at the Wuqiao Acrobatics World and has a settled place to give performance. He has his own house and car now and he doesn't have to travel from place to place to make a living any more.   At present, many classes have appeared in Wuqiao where people are able to learn acrobatics. There are now about 2,000 people who have studied in local acrobatics schools. About one hundred students from Tanzania, Ethiopia, Kenya, the United States, Japan and South Korea are learning acrobatics there, said local officials.   While Wuqiao people used to go to every part of the world to make a living with their acrobatics skills, now people all over the world come to Wuqiao to learn acrobatics skills. With twenty years of development, the Wuqiao International Arobatics Festival, together with the French Future International Acrobatics Art Festival and Monte Carlo's International Circus Festival, have now developed as the three major acrobatics festivals in the world.