In the Old Beijing, many itinerant entertainers liked to gather at Tianqiao to perform vaudevilles. Vaudevilles at the Tianqiao Bazaar featured a big variety of programs and spectacular performances with truly awe-inspiring feats.

Drawing Bows

Bows used in this program are all those difficult to draw. Before performance, the performer often invites a person with big strength from the audience to try the bow. The person usually can only draw the bow half open while the performer can easily draw it open and, what's more, can shoot first with one hand, then with the other. Zhang Yushan's son could draw four bows at one go.

Lifting Broadsword

Lifting Broadsword is a program that shows the performer's muscle. Performer Zhang Baozhong could lift a broadsword weighing 50 to 100 kilograms with one hand or both hands and even waving it with a single hand.

Diabolo Spinning

Diabolo is one of the folk toys in Beijing. Diabolo Spinning is a traditional Chinese sport. During festivals, people vie with one another in playing diabolo to express their jubilation. It is imbued with a strong national flavor. The performer spins the diabolo rapidly, twirling it round their body, throwing it up or passing it onto another player with grace and dexterity.

Dezi was a performer in the reign of Guangxu and he created many new tricks of diabolo spinning. Therefore, people called him "Diabolo Dezi". Later, another performer Chang Liquan was also very good at this acrobatics and he could not only spin diabolo but also playing the feat with a type of wine container, pot lids and so on.

Wielding Metal Fork

Wielding Metal Fork is a traditional folk acrobatics program. In the past, a procession on the Beijing streets usually had somebody to wield a prolonged metal fork in front of it to carve out a way. Therefore, Beijingers also called Wielding Metal Fork as Carving Out A Way.

On the Qianqiao Bazaar, the one who had the most stunts while wielding a fork was Tan Junchuan, so he was called by people as "Fei Cha Tan Junchuan" (Flying Fork Tan Junchuan).

Pole-Climbing

Pole Climbing is based on the movements of climbing trees and bamboo poles and is one of the main traditional acrobatic numbers in China, vivid description appeared in drawings more than 1,000 years ago.

On the basis of Pole-Climbing, new acrobatic movements such as jumping from one pole to the other, swift descent and many others are added. It demonstrates resourcefulness, courage and optimism, and brings the art of pole climbing to a new high level.

Yu Zhengming and his prentice were among the most famous performers of Pole-climbing and they could make various movements and postures on the top of the poles.

Chinese Banner Stunts

Banner troupes in ancient China all had distinctive banners and technique, and often engaged in public exhibitions and competitions of skill. Some troupes specialized in balancing their banners on heads or shoulders, while others would fling them high over buildings, running to catch them on the other side as they descended. Gradually banner performances developed into a unique art form.

Performers developed various challenging techniques, executing complex patterns while balancing the unwieldy poles on the palm of the hands or a single finger, tossing the poles from elbow to elbow, shoulder, neck, or head, or even catching them with teeth.

Cycling Feats

In this act two types of cycles are used: monocycles on which the acrobats, with the light gestures of the dance, adroitly perform various beautiful postures; and ride a bicycle flying over a table, etc. Performers also display a variety of postures on the bicycle, of which the beautiful tableau of a peacock fanning its feathers is the best.

In the 1940s, Jin Yeqin used to play cycling feats with his younger sister at the Tianqiao Bazaar and they could ride a bicycle flying over a table.

Hard Qigong

Hard Qigong has been around for many hundreds of years. It was originally used to train the body to withstand strong blows and attacks in the days when there were no guns but only the traditional Chinese weapons of spears, broadswords and knives.

Many people performed Har Qigong at the Tianqiao Bazaar and the most well-known ones were Zhu Guoliang and his younger brother. In one of their performance, one performer had four to six bricks put on his head and the other person broke these bricks into pieces with a sinker.

Iron Chain Feats

In Cracking Iron Chain, a performer tightly binds an iron chain around him and then cracks it open by directing his strength through concentration to a part of his body. Turning Iron Chain refers to the performance that the entertainer bends an iron chain of a finer size, burns it red on fire and then turns the chain straight. As for Biting Iron Chain, a performer burns it red on fire and then snaps it to several parts with his mouth.