On Aug 23, China Federation of Literary and Art Circles (CFLAC) agreed on holding the fifth national magic game, part of the eighth China Acrobatics Chrysanthemum Award, by Baofeng county in Pingdingshan city this December.

According to reports, Chinese Acrobatics Chrysanthemum Award is a national professional prize for literature and art co-sponsored by CFLAC and China Acrobats Association (CAA). It is as important as the Drama Plum Blossom Prize or the Golden Rooster Film Awards. China Acrobatics Golden Chrysanthemum Award includes four games nationwide - acrobatics, skits, circus and magic. The magic game has been hosted by Shenzhen, Nanjing, Beijing and Jinan in the past.

The fifth magic game of the eighth China Acrobatic Golden Chrysanthemum Award is jointly undertaken by CFLAC, CAA, Publicity Department of Henan Party Committee; Henan Literary Federation, Pingdingshan Municipal Party Committee, Pingdingshan Municipal Government, Henan Acrobats Association, Baofeng County Party Committee and Baofeng County Government.

According to officials from publicity department of the Baofeng County Party Committee, the county plans to hold the fifth “China Baofeng Magic Festival”. It is said that compared with the previous four games, the fifth magic game in Baofeng boasts new features.

First, it has a strong base in the county. Baofeng, named “hometown of Chinese magic” by CAA, has a long history of magic culture. It has more than 1,400 civil magic performance groups employing nearly 60,000 people, half of the county in both group and employee quantity.

Second, the development of the magic culture industry is undergoing unprecedented prosperity. Baofeng is the development pilot area of cultural reform in Henan. With the goal of building the “capital of Chinese folk art performance” and the “magic land of China”, the county set up a fund of three million yuan per year for the development of magic. 1.5 billion yuan has been put into building the Cultural and Creative Industry Park; one billion yuan in founding the Zhongyuan Magic Professional College. The Zhaozhuang Magic Industrial Park has already begun to take shape.

Third, magic cultural brand of Baofeng has become well known at home and abroad. The county has held four “China Baofeng Magic Culture Festivals and the National Magic Games” with over 100 participants of famous magicians from 16 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities). In particular, nine foreign magicians of world fame also came to perform in Baofeng. They not only greatly widened the local peasant magicians’ horizon, but also brought Baofeng magic from abroad.

Edited by Fu Bo and Tania Lee