Ruxianguli: magic is a dream

Born in August 1970, a National Class-A Performer. She took up magic at 18 and created her own flying-card technique, earning the name "the Flying-Card Fairy." At 28 she went to Shenzhen, where she created and starred in large-scale illusion shows and became chief magician of Happy Valley Shenzhen. She has won the Golden Lion Award, the highest award of the Ministry of Culture, and receives a special State Council allowance. She won the Magic Star Award at the 21st Monte Carlo International Magic Competition in Monaco.

Ruxianguli Aibaidula, of the Uygur ethnic group,

Ruxianguli formerly served as an acrobatics and magic performer, programme host and Youth League branch secretary with the Acrobatic Troupe of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. She is currently chief magician and assistant art director of the Happy Valley Shenzhen OCT Tourism Company, Chair of the Shenzhen Acrobats Association, a member of the 6th and 7th Shenzhen Municipal Committee of the CPPCC, a council member of the China Acrobats Association, Vice-Director of the Magic Art Committee of the China Acrobats Association, Vice-President of the Guangdong Acrobats Association, Vice-President of the Shenzhen Association for the Promotion of Ethnic Unity and Development, Vice-President of the Shenzhen–Hong Kong Performing Artists Exchange Association, Executive Vice-President of the Shenzhen Performing Artists Association, and Vice-President of the Shenzhen Association of Culture and Art Experts.

In 1988 she won the Best Magic Award at the Northwest Five-Province Acrobatics and Magic Competition; in 1991 she won the Golden Lion Award at the 3rd National Acrobatics and Magic Competition hosted by the Ministry of Culture of China; in 1997 she was named one of the Top Ten International Magicians at the 69th International Magic Competition held in Minnesota, USA; in 1999 the magic drama "Dreamland Divine Comedy," in which she starred, won the "Special Award" for best production at the 1st Golden Chrysanthemum Award for Circus Arts of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles

In 2000 the act "Card Artistry," which she created and starred in, won the "Silver Award" at the Hong Kong International Magic Competition

From 1999 to 2019 she helped plan and stage every edition of the Happy Valley Shenzhen International Magic Festival, and to date has taken part in planning and hosting 22 editions of it; in 2006 her self-created act "Card Artistry" was performed at the invitation of the Prince of Monaco, and she received the Monte Carlo "International Magic Star Award" presented by Prince Albert II of Monaco

In 2007 she arranged for Eric Eswin, president of the World Magic Association, to attend the Happy Valley Shenzhen International Magic Festival in person and present Happy Valley Shenzhen with an award for "outstanding contribution to popularising magic"; in 2008 she founded the first "magic school" at Happy Valley Shenzhen

In 2009 "Xiuse (Beauty in Bloom)," which she created and directed, won the championship of the Asian Magic Competition; in 2010 she received the "Merlin Award" for best female grand-illusion magician from the International Magicians Society of the United States

In 2012 the magic act "Xiuse (Beauty in Bloom)" won the 9th Guangdong Lu Xun Literature and Art Award (art category)

In 2011 the magic act "Xiuse (Beauty in Bloom)" won the championship of the Asian Magic Competition; in 2014 the large-scale urban situational magic drama "Dream Shenzhen," which she created and directed, was included among the designated performances of the arts festival of the 10th China (Shenzhen) International Cultural Industries Fair; in 2016 "Forest Fantasy," a magic act she tailored for her disciples, won first-class funding from the China National Arts Fund (Gold Award) at the "Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao–Taiwan" magic exchange showcase

In 2017 she was awarded the title of "3rd Guangdong Young and Middle-Aged Artist of Both Virtue and Artistry" by the Publicity Department of the Guangdong Provincial Party Committee and four other bodies; from 2014 to 2016 she took three consecutive titles at the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao–Taiwan Magic Exchange Conference; in 2021 "Secret Realm," a magic act by her disciples Hu Linglong and An Na, won the Magic Act Award at the 11th China Golden Chrysanthemum Award for Circus Arts

[Leaving acrobatics behind for a life in magic]

From the age of to the age of , Ruxianguli fought on the acrobatics stage for a full ten years. But as she grew older her body found it harder and harder. Although she had long been prepared for it, she was still very low when she realised her acrobatics career might be coming to an end. The troupe's veteran magician saw all

this and offered of his own accord to let her be his assistant. Gradually Ruxianguli came to love magic and made it her lifelong profession. At the time there were no ethnic-minority magicians either, and I liked it myself. I didn't know how far my efforts would take me; when I felt I was doing well, I decided I should specialise in magic

, and that year, at the age of , I set out on the road of magic.

"sleight of hand." Magicians usually choose to practise with playing cards, and Ruxianguli

The most basic training in magic is technique, known in the trade as

"In those days, having a professional prop was an enormous luxury. There were no plastic cards made for throwing,

was no exception. Ruxianguli said:

so I took a sample plastic playing card and searched everywhere. In the end all I could find was raw material of roughly the same texture. I cut out a great many pieces to the size of a card, stack after stack

" Through constant practice Ruxianguli gradually worked out a flying-card technique all her own. "To be able to hide a whole deck I practised desperately; my hands were covered in calluses. People say a magician's hands are so nimble, but in fact they are hands that have suffered a great deal," Ruxianguli said. In 1996 her act "Card Artistry," representing the Xinjiang Acrobatic Troupe, won the Golden Lion Award, the highest award presented by the national Ministry of Culture, at the 3rd National Acrobatics and Magic Competition. She herself came to be known in the Chinese profession as "the Flying-Card Fairy."

[To Shenzhen, to climb the peaks of magic]

In 1997 the Happy Valley Shenzhen then under construction held out an olive branch to Ruxianguli, and she in turn wanted to take on a greater challenge. In 1998 Ruxianguli arrived in Shenzhen with one suitcase and four doves. As an outstanding representative of the Xinjiang Acrobatic Troupe, she was seconded to Shenzhen for three years. "I still thought I would go back after a few years, but I have stayed here twenty-three years." Happy Valley was still a large building site then, and Shenzhen's magic scene was almost a blank page, while she was already a National Class-A Performer who had won the Golden Lion Award, the country's highest magic award, and received a special State Council allowance.

In 2000, here she took part in the planning and acted as go-between for taking part in

After coming to Shenzhen, Ruxianguli devoted most of her energy to creating and staging large-scale magic galas.

the staging of the first China Golden Chrysanthemum Award National Magic Competition, and with the themed magic drama "Dreamland Divine Comedy" won the Special Award presented by the acrobats association of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles. Through this work she won acclaim in the magic world and a ticket to the international magic stage. The drama also became China's first large-scale magic drama,

"There had never been a large-scale magic drama like this before, so the judges found it a refreshing sight, but nobody knew which category of magic it belonged to or how to judge it, so they gave it a Special Award. The performance that day was a great success." Ruxianguli thus pioneered the large-scale themed magic drama in China.

This large-scale magic drama ignited enormous public interest in magic and raised Happy Valley's profile. Step by step it grew into the seat of the Asian Magic Association and a base for China's magic cultural and creative industry, and Shenzhen thus became the southern stronghold of Chinese magic. Even Ruxianguli herself had not imagined that a large-scale

magic drama could hold such appeal. Happy Valley Shenzhen opened a door of magic in Ruxianguli's career, and on this performance platform Ruxianguli

more than 700 performances. In 2006, at the invitation of the sovereign of Monaco, she took part in the world's foremost magic gathering, the 21st Monte Carlo International Magic Grand Prix in Monaco, and won the Magic Star Award. To actively bring Shenzhen magic into step with international magic, her performing reached its peak in 2005. At that time her performances in a single year reached

As liaison and coordinator, Ruxianguli helped bring the headquarters of the Asian Magic Association successfully to the Happy Valley Shenzhen Tourism Company. At the same time she actively took part in planning and preparing and in stag

Happy Valley Shenzhen, 2002 to 2021

ing the first Happy Valley International Magic Festival together with the 2nd China Golden Chrysanthemum Award Magic Competition, and she prepared, planned and coordinated every subsequent edition of the international magic festival.

Between 2007 and 2010 Ruxianguli spent four consecutive years organising the Beijing Happy Valley "Cross-Strait Four-Region University Students' Magic Exchange Conference" and university magic competition, and served as secretary-general of the jury. In 2007 Eric Eswin, president of the World Magic Association, came to Shenzhen in person to present Happy Valley with the "Award for Outstanding Contribution to Popularising Magic." In 2008 she was lead creator and lead performer of the Happy Valley themed magic gala "Light of Magic," and of themed magic galas including "Magic Rose," "Phantom Traces," "Light of Magic" and "Maya Goddess," and she opened the first "magic school" at Happy Valley. "Magic Lecture," which she created and performed, became the most popular attraction in Happy Valley's visitor surveys.

For Shenzhen's successful hosting of the th Summer Universiade she created "Social Magic," and was awarded the title of Outstanding Individual of the Universiade by the Shenzhen municipal government.

[She loves Shenzhen, and loves her Xinjiang homeland even more]

Her hometown leaves its mark on Ruxianguli's work and life at every moment. In every overseas cultural exchange and every Belt and Road cultural performance she works in ethnic elements; she firmly believes that what is national is international, and that through her performances she can let the world understand China, the China of forty years of reform and opening up. She shows the grace of Uygur women. She shows the rich and varied cultural depth of the Chinese nation, hoping to bring these hometown characteristics to stages at home and abroad. Kashgar's Ai

In April 2015 Ruxianguli stepped up her coaching on the details of their competition piece for the final push towards the 6th magic competition of the 9th China Golden Chrysanthemum Award for Circus Arts, and in the end Aihemaiti and Zuli won a Silver Award at that competition. Aihemaiti said: "At first we served as maiti and Zuli were two of her many disciples.

Master Ruxian's assistants, for about five or six years, before she formally took us on as disciples. Knowing that we were dancers, she skilfully blended dance

" Perhaps this was only a small award in the magic careers of two young people, but under Ru

together with magic, bringing out our strengths to the greatest possible extent.

xianguli's attentive guidance they are growing into a new generation of ethnic-minority magicians. They are like Ruxianguli on stage in her day, expressing their longing for home through graceful dance and brilliant magic.

Ruxianguli says magic is like a dream, full of endless wonder and enchantment. The journey of chasing a dream is like a process of witnessing miracles. Like everyone around us chasing a dream in Shenzhen, she has given all her wisdom and passion to this city; and like every wanderer making a life far from home, she has kept the deepest love and longing of her heart for Xinjiang. Ruxianguli says she loves Shenzhen, and loves her hometown even more.

[As a Communist Party member, she has always practised taking culture and art to the grassroots] "I was born at the Party School of the CPC Kashgar Prefectural Committee. My father was a teacher at the Party School and a veteran Party member. In the Party School compound I met teachers like my father every day; you could say I was bathed in the red gene from childhood." In September 2019 the Shenzhen United Front's sharing event on outstanding deeds from the "Stay True to Our Founding Mission" thematic education programme, together with the second session of the 2019 "Tongxin Forum," was held in the auditorium of the Municipal Party School. Ruxianguli, as an outstanding representative of the city's ethnic minorities, shared her story there, and the story she told of her father and the founding aspiration of Communists moved many in the audience.

Ruxianguli revealed that when she was recruited into the Xinjiang Acrobatic Troupe at the age of seven, her father, mother, sisters and brothers saw her off, and her father said to her: Learn well from your teach

" Whenever the young Ruxianguli met with difficulty in life, in study or at work,

ers, listen to your ama (teacher), your father is a teacher, don't bring shame on your father.

she would think of her father's charge.

Ruxianguli joined the Communist Party of China at the age of . On the day her application was approved she telephoned her father; for a long, long time there was no sound at the other end, and then, choking back tears, he said to her:

"Now that you have all joined the Party, I have no regrets left. But I must tell you: having joined the Party, you must be loyal

to it, serve society and the people well, and not calculate personal gain or loss. From now on don't worry about the family; even if you gave me a mountain of gold, it would not match doing good work for the Party and for the peo

ple. In the years and more since joining the Party, Ruxianguli has kept her father's teaching firmly in mind, maintained the advanced standing of a Communist Party member working in the arts at the grassroots, played an exemplary role, and practised the Party's fundamental principle of taking culture and art to the grassroots. Two-thirds of every year she teaches at the grassroots, training students, running competitions, building ba

"The way I place myself, first I am a magic performer; only after doing that job well am I a magic teacher, and a cultural transmit

ses and spreading the art of magic. She said,

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