Ching Ling Foo

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Ching Ling Foo (Chinese: 金陵福; pinyin: Jīn Língfú) was the stage name of the Chinese magician Chee Ling Qua (Chinese: 朱連魁; pinyin: Zhū Liánkuí, 1854–1922). He is credited with being the first modern East Asian magician to achieve world fame.

Ching Ling Foo was born in Beijing, Qing dynasty, on May 11, 1854,^[1] He studied traditional Chinese magic and was a well-respected performer in his homeland.

During a typical performance, he stunned the audience by breathing smoke and fire or producing ribbons and a 15-foot-long (4.6 m) pole from his mouth. One of his sensational tricks had Chee using a sword to cut the head of a serving boy off at the shoulders. Then, to the amazement of the audience, the “beheaded” boy turns and exits the stage.

Another trick involved producing a huge bowl, full to the brim with water, from out of an empty cloth. He would then pull a small child from the bowl.

He brought his show to the 1898 Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition in Omaha, Nebraska.^[2] When he brought his show to the United States in 1898, he began offering a $1,000 reward to anyone who could reproduce his water trick. (This was quite a large sum for the time, equivalent to about $33,050 in 2021.)

New York-born William Robinson, who worked occasionally as a magician, decided to try for the $1,000. Chee rebuffed him. Unable to claim the $1,000, Robinson developed a Chinese-style show of his own and recreated himself as Chung Ling Soo. Robinson, in the guise of Chung, traveled to Europe and a deep rivalry was begun between the two men.

A group of Chinese women with bound feet, including Chee's wife, accompanied the magician outside China and was shown as another attraction. Other members of Chee's family would also participate in his act. He would often conjure his daughter, Chee Toy, onto the stage^[3] while his son would perform acrobatics and juggling.^[4]

Ching Ling Foo died in Shanghai, Republic of China in 1922, aged 69 years.^[5]

Irving Berlin included him in his lyrics for “From Here to Shanghai” (1917)

"I'll eat the way they do,

With a pair of wooden sticks,

And I'll have Ching Ling Foo,

Doing all his magic tricks."

In the show Strike Up the Band, the Gershwins included a song "Patriotic Rally" which had the following verses:

"Land of Washington and Lincoln, Henry Ford and Morris Gest,

Land of Franklin, Land of Coolidge — men who stood the test!

Land of Jefferson and Adams, Dempsey and Ben Turpin, too,

Andrew Jackson, Woodrow Wilson — all red, white, and blue!

Francis Bushman, Charlotte Cushman, and old Edwin Booth.

Admiral Dewey, “Lefty” Louie, and “Bambino” Ruth!

We could go on naming great men, but we have our fears;

this could go on for years!

Land of Minsky and Rumshinsky, Land of Donahue,

Land of Johnson and Yon Yonson, Land of Ching Ling Foo!"

Christopher Nolan’s The Prestige—about two warring stage conjurers—depicts a Chinese magician working in London, who performs a trick with a water bowl similar to one of Foo's stunts.

Media related to Ching Ling Foo at Wikimedia Commons