Magic Unleashes a City's Free-Flying Cultural Imagination! The 6th Shenzhen Magic Festival Closes Successfully
Shenzhen News Net, December 2, 2024 (reporter Pan Runhua) — The major awards were announced and a new guochao spectacular took the stage. The Shenzhen Nanshan Culture and Sports Centre was at full "magic" power for the 6th Shenzhen Magic Festival and the joyful interactive acrobatic show "Journey to the West · Wukong." That evening, the awards of the 7th "Golden Magic Ring · Summit" Shenzhen Youth Magic Exchange were announced one by one on site.
The close-up magic act "Grandma's Bell," performed by Zhou Yu of Shenzhen, and the stage magic act "Dream Return," performed by Li Juncheng of Guangzhou, took first place in the close-up and stage sections respectively; "Adventures at the Magic Academy," performed by Xu Jialiang of Guangzhou, Guangdong, and "The Grapes Are Ripe," performed by Guzaliayi Abudukelimu of Urumqi, Xinjiang, took second place in the close-up and stage sections respectively; "Illusion Revision," performed by Lan Dong of Dongguan, Guangdong, and "Original Hong Kong Flavour," performed by Zhong Lihao of Hong Kong, China, took third place in the close-up and stage sections respectively; and the close-up act "Mr.D," performed by Dong Junjie of Tianjin, and the stage act "Hidden · Bond of the Dove," performed by Li Yijie of Xi'an, Shaanxi, won the "Newcomer Award." After the awards ceremony, the acrobatic drama "Journey to the West · Wukong," created by the Guangzhou Acrobatics Art Theatre, was staged to stunning effect, bringing the people of Shenzhen a double feast that blended acrobatics with martial arts and myth with drama, appealing to both the eye and the heart.
"Journey to the West · Wukong" takes "true growth" as its theme, telling how Sun Wukong, after more than a decade of study under a master, grasps the deeper truths and acquires supernatural powers, and then comes to understand that with greater ability comes greater responsibility. The production combines acrobatics, dance, drama, magic and puppetry, with nearly 20 kinds of high-difficulty acrobatics pushing the limits of the human body and of stage performance again and again. The light-hearted humour of the contest for the throne at the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit and of the studies at Fangcun Mountain, and the tension of seizing the treasure in the Dragon Palace and wreaking havoc in Heaven, give a fresh reading of a classic Chinese myth. Technical elements such as three-dimensional stage projection let characters like the "Monkey King" and the "fairies" interact closely with the audience at any moment; modern rock and electronic music set against anime-flavoured guochao styling strengthens the visual inventiveness and sensory impact, immersing the audience wholly in a romantic, fantastical mythical world and bringing this magic festival to a magical and satisfying close.
Since November 8, over nearly a month, the 6th Shenzhen Magic Festival — jointly hosted by the China Acrobats Association, the Shenzhen Federation of Literary and Art Circles and the China Magic Culture and Creative Industry Base, with the Shenzhen Acrobats Association as overall organizer — held nearly 20 events across eight major sections, including the opening ceremony, the 11th "Golden Magic Child" Shenzhen Children's Magic Exchange, the 4th Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao College Magicians Workshop, the "Go to the People" magic performances in schools, the "Climb the Summit Together" performance by Shenzhen young magicians in Macao, the 7th "Golden Magic Ring · Summit" Shenzhen Youth Magic Exchange and the 4th Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao College Magic Showcase, opening the city's annual "magic" carnival as promised. The series generated more than 70 news reports in text, image, audio and video, and made full use of digital platforms for live streaming, drawing more than a million online views.
As a key cultural brand project of Shenzhen, this edition of the festival once again discovered and nurtured a group of young magic talents and presented a body of high-quality acrobatic and magic works, showing the charm and considerable strength of the acrobatic and magic arts in Shenzhen and in China as a whole. It is worth noting in particular that this edition made fuller use of the new trend towards integrating magic with drama, offering the public fine magic theatre at both the opening and closing ceremonies, so that audiences could enjoy to the full the pleasure and appeal of the art of magic and spend a colourful, magical time. Magic is a performing art with a deep historical foundation and an important part of China's fine traditional culture. In recent years Shenzhen magic has continually renewed itself through change, and its practice of integrating "technology plus the arts" has been remarkable. While opening a city-wide "magic" carnival on every front, the Shenzhen Magic Festival has strongly promoted the flourishing of magic as a culture and an art, further enriched the city's culture and reputation, and fully expressed Shenzhen's distinctive character as a city of youth, of technology and of innovation.