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Picture, if you will, two young Americans juggling by the Monument to the People's Heroes, smack dab in the middle of Tienanmen Square. On second thought, don't picture it, because you can see my pictures. I was bounce juggling while Peter did funky creative Peter stuff. In the background of these pictures you can see the gateway to the Forbidden City and the big portrait of Chairman Mao. Now in the People's Republic of Berkeley it would take much more than two hicks juggling to attract attention; people don't blink at anything short of a major earthquake or a Republican. But I guess this kind of thing is rare in Beijing; the acrobats are a little pricey for the common folk and for reasons we were about to learn, there aren't many buskers. People started to gather round us taking pictures, and that's when the trouble started.
A busload of cops drove up, right across the square, and started to question us. On average, Peter and I have a modest command of Chinese, meaning his Chinese is good and mine is extremely modest indeed. So he explained about the harmony and joy that is World Juggling Day while our onlookers, um, looked on. Inexplicably, the cops were not amused, and they ordered us to disperse immediately. We had a quick conference and decided that when the authorities tell you to disperse from Tienanmen Square, it's healthier (albeit less heroic) to obey. After much pleading, the cops said they could not allow any assembly in the square itself, but we could juggle just across the street in front of the People's Revolutionary History Musuem. This worked out pretty well, because it was still a very public place right next to the monument.
We started passing clubs. We only had five, so Peter improvised a sixth one out of an old dowel. (Yeah, we also walked there ten miles uphill through the snow.) In the background of this picture you can see the Maosoleum where the Chairman himself lies in waxy state.
At this point, I guess our photographer decided it was safe to be seen with us, so she joined us juggling while Peter and I did a three club walkaround. We started to gather a new crowd of supporters (although the soldiers marching around refused to turn their heads, either for the solo juggling or for the passing). I did my little Vegas-style 5-club finish for the crowd, but sadly, no women threw their underwear at me. (Sigh, this was the best I got.) Guess I need more rhinestones. Or maybe I need to get that Qian fellow to teach me to juggle.
Then we got down to business teaching people how to juggle. Several people began to get the hang of the cascade and Peter and I were able to "Siamese juggle" with them. (I hope that term is still p.c.; it means where you stand side by side and one person acts as the right hand while the other person acts as the left like in this picture.) But apparently this level of interaction was again too much for the police; another officer came over and ordered us very brusquely to leave. We tried to explain that the other busload of cops had ok'ed it, but I guess he thought we were pulling rank on him, because he got even angrier. On the suggestion of our new Chinese friends, we moved off behind some trees and out of sight of the cop.
There we continued our lessons, and several people actually learned to juggle. Our greatest success was a guy who said he'd always been interested in juggling but had never learned how. He learned a three ball cascade in ten minutes, and in another five he could Siamese juggle with me and do a three ball walkaround with Peter! Later we got into some serious theoretical discussion with him. We also did some cutesy stuff; if you don't vomit easily, check out this and this.
So that was World Juggling Day in Beijing.
Three students learn the three ball cascade.
This student learned very quickly and shared a three club cascade with me.
Plate spinning: One woman supporting five others on her shoulders while all of them spin multiple plates. The guy behind the bottom woman is a spotter; he's not supporting any weight.
Glass balancing: A very blurry picture of a contortionist balancing a pile of champagne glasses on her foot and another on a stick balanced on a mouthstick.
Acrobalance: Four people supporting the weight of 13 people. Unfortunately this picture only shows the setup, not the trick, but you can see how it was done. They also did a human star.
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