Year: 1875

SAYS the San Francisco Call: To an
American nothing can be more utterly
incomprehensible and monotonous than
Chinese play. Many 90 once out of
curiosity; but the outrageous music of
the orchestra, with its wailing, stringed
instruments, and discOrdant gongs, in
terspersed with the horrible jargon of
the Celestial, is rarely sufficient to hold
entranced the casual white spectator
when a free melodeOn entertainment
furnishes him with superior attratiOn.
OF late, however, the manager of the
Chinese Theater has introduced ''new
business" with the idea of securing pa
tronage outside of that afforded by his
cOuntrymen. The Chinese tumblers
lately introduced into the Jackson Street
Chinese Academy of Music are indeed
marvels in their line, and the perform
ances are well worth seeing. These ac-
robats do not appear alone, but are in
cidental to the piece, very much as the
circus scene is introduced in the play of
"Old Curiosity Shop" just before the
appearance of the acrobats, a China
man ruShes down stairs to inform those
on the street that the etumbling is about
to begin, and there is a rush directly
from below. Amid a tremendous de-
monstration on the part of the Orches-
ira the Atumbling begins. A gigantic
Chinaman comes out dressed in a gro
tesque costume in which every known
color is blended He goes through a
number of flourishes and bows, which
cause the unsophisticated portion of the
audience to entertain the belief that he
is a star performer. Such, however, is
not the fact, as the man is only figure
head. At last a number of athletic Mon
gOlians appear, stripped to the waist,
and begin a sort of combat upon the
stage. At first the fighting appears to
be promiscuOuS, but six or eight finally
ally themselves against one man and
try to overcome him by springing
against him and striking him full in the
breast with the soles of their feet. He
meets this curious mode of attack by
by standing like statue, while the 9th
ers fall heavily upon the
floor. A number of tables are
next brought out and piled
one above the other until height of
about 20 feet is attained. A performer,
whose weight is no less than $50 pounds,


mounts them, and, springing in the
air toward the floor and the stage,
strikes both feet with a heavy thud upon
the bare breast of a man standing about
ten feet from the foot of the tables,
throwing him violently to the floor.
How a man can sustain such blow is
mystery. Again the agile acrobat as
cends to the top table, and springing
upward turns a sOmersault, while all
the tables except the lower one are sud


denly taken away. Upon the only table
left he falls with force apparently
great enough to break every bone in his
body; but he leaps up again immediate
" and turns back handsprings across
the stage. Again he climbs to the tops
of the tower of tables, while a second
lies down upon table few feet from
the base of the tower Turning a somer-
sault in mid-air he falls upon the other
body, the two breast to breast, and
bounds off again with second somer-
sault Other acrobats climbed to vari-
Gus attitudes and fell upon the stage,
alighting square upon their backs with
a force which was astonishing. These
feats are all executed by men in a semi
nude condition, so that there is no
chance for padding their clothes. While
the Americans in the theater applaud,
the Chinese make no demonstration of
approval, but sit looking stolidly on.
The manager informed the Gail reporter
that the tumblers are trained from child
hood, and become habituated to the ter
rible conclusions only by years of prac
tice. He added that many are killed in
training, or manned for life. The re-
porter was allowed to examine the aero
| bats, and found the muscles of their
backs and breasts as hard as wood to
the touch. None of their feats are
graceful, but simply indicating a tre-
mendous amount of nerve and endur-