Editing Ching Ling Foo

{{Short description|Chinese magician (1854–1922)}}
{{more citations needed|date=September 2014}}

[[Image:Ching Ling Foo.jpg|right|thumb|250px|Postcard with Ching Ling Foo, 1898]]

'''Ching Ling Foo''' ({{zh|t=金陵福|p=Jīn Língfú}}) was the stage name of the Chinese magician '''Chee Ling Qua''' ({{zh|t=朱連魁|p=Zhū Liánkuí}}, 1854–1922). He is credited with being the first modern East Asian magician to achieve world fame.

== Biography ==

Ching Ling Foo was born in [[Tianjin]], [[Qing dynasty]], on May 11, 1854,<ref>{{Cite journal|title=一代魔术大师朱连魁事略|author=王富盛|url=https://www.tjdag.gov.cn/tjfzw/doc/003/000/208/00300020833_9812afe9.pdf|journal=天津史志|issue=179|doi=|year=2018|volume=|page=|pmid=}}</ref> He studied traditional Chinese [[magic (illusion)|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 {{convert|15|ft|m|adj=mid|-long}} 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 Exposition|Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition]] in [[Omaha, Nebraska|Omaha]], [[Nebraska]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Trans-Mississippi International Exposition |url=https://trans-mississippi.unl.edu/texts/view/transmiss.news.owh.18990416.html |access-date=2024-06-23 |website=trans-mississippi.unl.edu}}</ref> 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 (state)|New York]]-born [[Chung Ling Soo|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 [[foot binding|bound feet]], including Chee's wife, accompanied the magician outside China and was shown as another attraction.<!-- Photos of the group can be found in article http://zpravy.idnes.cz/domaci.asp?y=zpravodaj/narodni_muzeum.htm (source is [[Náprstek Museum]]) but it needs flash and text is in Czech so it's not much helpful link, mentioned just to make sure it is true)--> Other members of Chee's family would also participate in his act. He would often conjure his daughter, Chee Toy, onto the stage<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://travsd.wordpress.com/2010/04/02/stars-of-vaudeville-143-144-ching-ling-foo-and-chung-ling-soo/|title=Ching Ling Foo and Chung Ling Soo: The Ultimate Magic Smackdown|website=travsd.wordpress.com|date=April 2, 2010}}</ref> while his son would perform acrobatics and juggling.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.miraclefactory.net/mpt/view.php?id=73&type=articles |title=A Wonderful Conjuror: Ching Ling Foo |date=March 23, 2011 |website= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110323050347/http://www.miraclefactory.net/mpt/view.php?id=73&type=articles |archive-date=23 March 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

Ching Ling Foo died in [[Shanghai]], [[Republic of China (1912-1949)|Republic of China]] in 1922, aged 69 years.<ref>{{cite book |language=zh-hans |title=《大革命写真画》 |year=2011 |publisher=商务印书馆}}</ref>

==In popular culture==

=== Music ===
[[Irving Berlin]] included him in his lyrics for [[List of songs written by Irving Berlin|“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!"

=== Film ===
[[Christopher Nolan]]’s ''[[The Prestige (film)|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.

== References ==
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==External links==
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Foo, Ching Ling}}
[[Category:1854 births]]
[[Category:1922 deaths]]
[[Category:Chinese vaudeville performers]]
[[Category:Chinese magicians]]
[[Category:People from Beijing]]