Macaques in frilly dresses turn backflips and answer math questions for crowds of screaming children at a Chinese monkey school, where trainers teach them to waltz and play rock drums.
Shows featuring performing simians, popular in China and throughout Asia, are expecting a boost in the Lunar New Year of the monkey, which begins today.
However, they are facing a growing backlash from Chinese concerned about animal welfare.
Photo: AFP
“It’s like a human school, but using monkeys,” said Takeshi Soma, the Japanese “headmaster” of the facility, at a zoo in Dongying, Shandong Province.
His charges are about a dozen macaques from snow-capped mountains near Tokyo, who receive one-on-one tuition from a team of live-in instructors.
“This kind of training is the first in China,” Soma said.
Photo: AFP
He watched as staff in sequined waistcoats clothed the monkeys in multicolored gowns, leading them on stage in a mock Viennese ball.
“I think this is the only place that does that,” he said.
Four of the animals are training as a mock rock band, led by a monkey with a red bow tie and pink toy microphone.
However, a recent rehearsal ended with one macaque walking on his hands away from a miniature drum kit after a few tender taps, and another slamming down her plastic guitar before running to stage left.
“Our monkeys don’t listen to us very well, but that’s what is funny about it all. Monkeys being natural and being themselves,” Soma said.
Such performances have a centuries-old history in China, and today monkeys are often seen at country fairs catching knives and riding bicycles.
As China’s economy has boomed, the scale of the shows has increased. More than a dozen zoos in the country now offer monkey performances.
China has no laws protecting non-endangered species, but a growing animal protection movement has condemned the displays as cruel.
Their cause was aided when video of a bear biting and clawing a monkey after the two fell off their bicycles in an “Animal Olympics” in Shanghai went viral in 2013.
One staff member at the Yangjiaping zoo in Chongqing said that monkey shows had been canceled this year “because of a complaint about animal cruelty.”
However, the backlash has not deterred investors, with nearly 19 million yuan (US$2.9 million) spent on the school, said Xiao Jingxia, president of the local government backed China-Japan Friendship Association.
It is a partnership with Japanese monkey troupe Nikko Saru Gundan, whose animals regularly star on TV shows in Japan.
“We hope to attract audiences from all over China,” Xiao said, as monkeys were led around in front of her on leashes.
“We would like to take advantage of the monkey year for publicity ... this will be a year of promotion,” Xiao said.
A crowd of several dozen children and parents gathered outside the theater more than an hour before the show started, mixing with the animals who wore nappies with holes cut for their tails.
The centerpiece of the school’s afternoon show was a mock mathematics class, with animals in tunics and denim shorts sitting behind miniature desks.
They raised their hands and showed their fingers to apparently answer basic arithmetic questions, as the young audience giggled and clapped.
Later the monkeys rode atop large plastic balls and jumped over obstacles. And, of course, waltzed.
“I like the dancing best. They are like people,” four-year-old Ai Jiuqiu said.
“Happy monkey year,” an announcer boomed, before the animals were undressed and led back to their cages.
BACKLASH: The National Party quit its decades-long partnership with the Liberal Party after their election loss to center-left Labor, which won a historic third term Australia’s National Party has split from its conservative coalition partner of more than 60 years, the Liberal Party, citing policy differences over renewable energy and after a resounding loss at a national election this month. “Its time to have a break,” Nationals leader David Littleproud told reporters yesterday. The split shows the pressure on Australia’s conservative parties after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s center-left Labor party won a historic second term in the May 3 election, powered by a voter backlash against US President Donald Trump’s policies. Under the long-standing partnership in state and federal politics, the Liberal and National coalition had shared power
A Croatian town has come up with a novel solution to solve the issue of working parents when there are no public childcare spaces available: pay grandparents to do it. Samobor, near the capital, Zagreb, has become the first in the country to run a “Grandmother-Grandfather Service,” which pays 360 euros (US$400) a month per child. The scheme allows grandparents to top up their pension, but the authorities also hope it will boost family ties and tackle social isolation as the population ages. “The benefits are multiple,” Samobor Mayor Petra Skrobot told reporters. “Pensions are rather low and for parents it is sometimes
CONTROVERSY: During the performance of Israel’s entrant Yuval Raphael’s song ‘New Day Will Rise,’ loud whistles were heard and two people tried to get on stage Austria’s JJ yesterday won the Eurovision Song Contest, with his operatic song Wasted Love triumphing at the world’s biggest live music television event. After votes from national juries around Europe and viewers from across the continent and beyond, JJ gave Austria its first victory since bearded drag performer Conchita Wurst’s 2014 triumph. After the nail-biting drama as the votes were revealed running into yesterday morning, Austria finished with 436 points, ahead of Israel — whose participation drew protests — on 357 and Estonia on 356. “Thank you to you, Europe, for making my dreams come true,” 24-year-old countertenor JJ, whose
A documentary whose main subject, 25-year-old photojournalist Fatima Hassouna, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza weeks before it premiered at Cannes stunned viewers into silence at the festival on Thursday. As the cinema lights came back on, filmmaker Sepideh Farsi held up an image of the young Palestinian woman killed with younger siblings on April 16, and encouraged the audience to stand up and clap to pay tribute. “To kill a child, to kill a photographer is unacceptable,” Farsi said. “There are still children to save. It must be done fast,” the exiled Iranian filmmaker added. With Israel
RSS