Abracadabra! Wei Xing, Magician

Why are we so drawn to illusions? We all want to learn how the tricks are done and yet we worry that knowing will rob us of our ability to be entertained. We couldn’t ask Wei Xing, magician for hire, to reveal his secrets, but we can make him a little less mysterious.

What’s your favorite trick to perform?
If I had to narrow it down to one trick, I’d say “the death escape.” The female assistant lies on a bed of nails, and then, as the heavy block falls down upon her, she disappears. Later, she reappears in the crowd.

Tell us about your most dangerous performance.
Once I had to perform a nail trick, in which the audience chooses one of six paper bags to hide an upward-facing nail – and I did not sense which bag it was in. For this trick you have to smash the paper bag really hard. If I got it wrong, I would impale my hand on the nail. Normally I act as if I’m afraid but that time the fear was real. Luckily, I guessed correctly.

How many types of animals do you keep for performances?
Just two: white pigeons and a cockatoo. No rabbits – they don’t do anything exciting once they are out of the hat. I like pulling the parrot out of the hat. It’s quite big, with a wing span of 60-70cm. After you pull it out, it flies around the room and comes back to you. Very entertaining. This kind of parrot is hard to take care of, though; they get ill quite easily. They are also quite expensive – we’re talking at least Beijing folk 20,000 kuai here.

What Beijing building would you like to make disappear?
The CCTV Tower, Yintai Centre or the Pangu building … but the first two wouldn’t be suitable due to the traffic situation. It would have to be the Pangu. Not only does it have a unique shape, but its LCD screen is super-bright, which would make the trick more challenging.

What kind of magic excites the audience most?
Children like candy and birds. Older people prefer grander stage performances – nothing too extreme, though, and with less talking so they can follow along. Young people like trendy magic, the kind that gets broadcast on CCTV’s Spring Festival Gala. Guys like tricks that make pretty girls appear.

If you’d like Wei Xing to perform for you, contact him at http://blog.sina.com.cn/codymagician.

Click here to see the June issue of the Beijinger in full.

Photo courtesy of Wei Xing