For the past two months, some 60 children have been presenting talent shows, including spinning saucers, manipulating yo-yos, riding monocycles, pyramid building, somersaults and other athletic performances, to assist charity organizations. The children, students of the China Folk Arts Training Center, have amazed audiences with their skills.

The director of the center is a legendary figure in acrobatics in the Republic of China, Lee Tang-hua. After a 20-year career in acrobatics, Lee spent 10 years in training new performers at the center.

As early as the Chin Dynasty (255-207 B.C.), many types of acrobatic performances had been developed. But it was during the Han Dynasty (206 B.C.-220 A.D.) that the art really flourished, with the perfection of the Pai-shi (hundred acts) system. This display included a wide variety of juggling, tumbling and magic, and became a form of popular entertainment of the period. As the centuries passed, acrobatics flourished, and troupes traveled from village to village and city to city to add life and color to festivals.

At the age of eight, Lee started to practice acrobatics with Pan Yu- hsi in Shanghai. With his intelligence and agility, he was able to absorb the techniques of acrobatics quickly, and soon started on his career with a traveling troupe, making goodwill tours both at home and abroad. By the time he was 19, with the support of Pan and fellow apprentices, Lee had organized a 30-member folk art troupe to perform in large cities on the mainland and in such overseas locations as the Philippines, Australia and Europe. When he moved with the government of Republic of China to Taiwan in 1949, Lee continued his career, and launched numerous troop-cheering tours to the frontline islands of Kinmen, Matsu and Penghu. Further successful tours were organized to Thailand, the Philippines, South Africa, Malawi, Bolivia and E1 Salvador.

As there are more than 100 kinds of acrobatic acts in the repertoire, of which about 30 can be presented in the average two-hour performance, Lee decided to renovate the program by combining several styles into one presentation.

In addition to being known for its high artistic standard, the troupe is also respected for its philanthropic activities. Lee always donates the proceeds from any performance to charity. Overseas projects have included the provision of a clinic offering free treatment in Indonesia, assistance for a leper colony in Vietnam, and visits to orphanages and old people's homes in South Africa. Lee Tang-hua has won numerous medals, citations and awards from national leaders and governments overseas.

Lee was motivated to set up the folk arts training center after he discovered shortcomings in the traditional master-apprentice or father-son training system. The master would always keep one secret to himself, and the son might not necessarily be interested in his father's career. Either way, the most treasured Chinese folk arts seemed destined to perish one day. After years of planning, the China Folk Arts Training Center was inaugurated in October 1978.

At present, the center has 60 students aged from eight to 14, who are assigned by the Ministry of Education to study at the Minsheng Primary School or Nankang Junior High School, according to their age. They receive acrobatic training in the daytime and academic instruction at night. Financial resources, apart from the grant from the Ministry of Education, are solicited by Lee Tang-hua himself. Room, board and laundry are all paid for. In return, students must agree to stay on at the center as instructors, or popularize Chinese folk arts abroad on behalf of the center, for two years after the completion of their training.

Some 30 specialists currently teach at the center in such arts as acrobatics, dances, music, callisthenics, and magic shows, assisted by audio-visual equipment. Each student's progress is video-taped so he can spot and correct his mistakes. Lee also collects pictures and films of acrobatic and callisthenic shows from all over the world to help students improve their techniques. By such means he has managed to merge Western ideas and methods with Chinese folk arts. Currently, Lee is collecting materials from every possible source to compile a textbook for students and teachers at the center.

Under his training system, Lee estimates that within six years, his students will have become highly accomplished acrobats. The achievements after only one year of training make it apparent that this goal is attainable. Lee is planning to augment his departments of music, stage design, lighting, costume, make-up and stage administration at the center.

The National Taiwan Academy of Arts is planning to establish a department of folk art, which will attract many graduates from the center for further study. Lee is confident that the talent being cultivated at the center will expand and glorify Chinese folk art for the benefit of future generations.

[Picture Caption]

Above left: Lee Tang-hua, legendary figure in acrobatics in the Republic of China, and his students (above right).

After following the old master's instructions (opposite), his students have become experienced in a great variety of acrobatic arts (above).

Children of the China Folk Arts Training Center riding monocycle (left), and spinning saucers.

Lee Tang-hua, legendary figure in acrobatics in the Republic of China, and his students （above right）.

Lee Tang-hua, legendary figure in acrobatics in the Republic of China, and his students （above right）.

After following the old master's instructions （opposite）

his students have become experienced in a great variety of acrobatic arts （above）.

his students have become experienced in a great variety of acrobatic arts （above）.

his students have become experienced in a great variety of acrobatic arts （above）.

Children of the China Folk Arts Training Center riding monocycle （left）, and spinning saucers.

Children of the China Folk Arts Training Center riding monocycle （left）, and spinning saucers.

Children of the China Folk Arts Training Center riding monocycle （left）, and spinning saucers.