Ching Ling Foo

Postcard with Ching Ling Foo

Ching Ling Foo (Chinese: 金陵福, 1854–1922), born Chee Ling Qua (Chinese: 朱連魁), is credited with being the first modern East Asian magician to achieve world fame.

Biography

Born in Beijing, Foo 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 Foo 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. 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 apparently done for publicity’s sake and there was never any real intention to give out the reward.

Brooklyn-born William Robinson, who worked occasionally as a magician, decided to try for the $1,000. Foo 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 Soo, traveled to Europe and a deep rivalry was begun between the two men.

A group of Chinese women with bound feet, including Foo's wife, accompanied the magician outside China and was shown as another attraction.

"From Here to Shanghai"

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."