The Circus Leaves Town

Most of the area inside his courtyard of around 100 square meters is occupied by cages. They contain three lions and more than 10 tigers. Li Yin once believed that after he made his fortune, he could build more animal cages in the backyard. Currently that’s home to a goat, three bears and six monkeys. It’s here that he trains his animal performers. 　

Li has covered the cages with a black sunshade to protect them from the blistering sun, and is washing them out with tap water, a task he says he performs several times a day. When business was booming he would feed the animals raw beef and live prey, but his financial woes mean the best he can offer them today is cheap duck meat and chicken carcasses. “The cost per month remains high, more than 10,000 yuan [US$1,560].”　

According to Li, government moves to tighten up circus licensing and a campaign by animal rights activists to fight animal abuse have hit the circus industry hard. 　

Li Yin was one of the signatories. The letter attacks what it calls contradictory policies toward the circus industry held by China’s different regulators. “We are completely confused about which policy has a stronger legal basis,” Li explained.　

 Back in 2010, MOHURD called on all zoos in China to “cease animal performance shows.” In June 2013, a MOHURD document on zoo regulation held that “in the process of wildlife protection and artificial feeding... all kinds of animal performance activities should be prohibited.”　

However since these calls are not law, some zoos have retained their circus contracts. Yang Zhiyuan and Huang Yingzhi, two circus managers, say they have had ongoing cooperation with Xi’an Qinling Wildlife Park and Guangzhou Zoo since the 1990s. They told NewsChina that back then, circus performances provided extra revenue for zoos that could amount to tens of millions of yuan.　

China’s animal management system is complex and muddled. Land animals and wildlife parks are administered by the State Forestry and Grassland Administration, while urban zoos fall under the control of MOHURD and marine animals and aquariums are regulated by the Ministry of Agriculture. Meanwhile circuses are managed by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. These ministries have contradictory policies that can drive circus owners crazy. 　

China’s Wildlife Protection Law, which came into effect in 1989, is the most authoritative law on the subject in China. But despite continuous amendments it has never regulated animal performances or circus shows. Since 1996, seeking to tighten regulations on circus performances, the Chinese government began requiring all circuses to obtain certificates on training and feeding animals from the Forestry Ministry and a license to perform from the local Culture Department. In Li Yin’s home of Suzhou, which has a rich historical tradition of training goats and monkeys for street performance, it was easy to obtain such certificates in the 1990s and 2000s. Today it is almost impossible to obtain a new certificate in this industry. 　

In November 2014, China’s Forestry Ministry called for public feedback on a draft guidance on domesticating and propagating key wildlife. The document divided wildlife into five categories, including one of “circus performances.” This draft seemed to legalize circus activities, but it was not enacted. 　

In the past decade, China’s roughly 1,000 circus companies have been required by different ministries to apply for domestication licenses, transportation licenses, performance licenses, business licenses, as well as tax certificates. In addition, it is now compulsory to microchip all performing animals. 　

After obtaining all of these licenses and certificates it is theoretically legal to train animals for performance purposes, however this contradicts MOHURD’s guidance which prohibits all types of animal performance. 　

Li Yin conceded that such treatment was common – but he denied it was animal abuse. He takes his animals to the vet immediately whenever they are sick, he said, and regularly cleans and sterilizes their enclosures. 　

“My neighbor feeds the baby tiger with infant formula since the mommy tiger does not know how to take care of babies,” Li said. “We have tried our best to take care of them, and the training is reasonable if you compare them to professional athletes on the national team – they too have experienced harsh training since their childhood.”　

Volunteers from Freedom for Animal Actors have campaigned against animal performances since 2014. Through continuous monitoring, they reported 19 violations of animal rights to the authorities in 2016 alone. These shows were quickly shut down. 　

As they scaled up their activism, the fight between animal welfare NGOs and circuses has become more intense. In 2017, Guangzhou Zoo finally ended its contract with Huang Yingzhi’s circus. Yang Zhiyuan’s circus was also forced to stop performing in Xi’an. 　

“They are key players, so their decisions disappointed us all and don’t bode well for the future of the industry,” Li Yin sighed. 　

As a child, Li performed as an acrobat with the circus until a series of accidents took their toll on his body. First he broke his arm, then a fall from a horse saw him damage his legs and feet. After that, he stopped performing and transitioned into training. He has a close relationship with his animals, and can tell them apart from others based on their smell alone. 　

Suzhou has been listed by the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles and the China Acrobats Association as China’s “Circus Town.” A few years ago, the State Council singled out Suzhou’s circuses for cultural heritage protection. Li Yin’s teacher Li Zhengbing was given a top cultural heritage award. Li Yin questions why this celebrated heritage is now being shunned. 　

When asked, Li Yin was unaware that in May 2017, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, one of the largest circuses in the world, gave its final performance after nearly 150 years. It’s a worldwide trend. Thirty-six countries and 389 cities across the world have now banned animal performances. 　

Li worries that his craft may not survive another generation. And he also worries about the animals, he says. There are more than 1,000 tigers and lions in the circus industry. It is impossible to set them free in the wild, and without income, their lives will be unsustainable, he says. So far, the 300 circus owners who wrote to MOHURD are yet to receive a response.