Joy and sorrow of monkey trainers

Bao Qingshan, 47, who is a monkey according to Chinese Zodiac, has been training monkeys and performing with them for more than 30 years. But he finds the job increasingly difficult to pursue these days.

Bao, his brother Bao Fengshan and four other trainers from Xinye county, Henan province, which is famous for its monkey tricks, were detained for holding a show on a street in Mudanjiang city, Heilongjiang province. The police said the six had no "wild animal transportation license".

In Baowan village, Bao's hometown, more than 1,000 people earn their living by holding money shows around the country. They travel around China for most part of the year and only return for autumn harvest and Spring Festival.

They train these animals and display tricks for money. Yang Lingui, 58, also a trainer, said they can make more than 100 yuan a day.

"We earn much more doing this than farming, which is why almost every household is in this profession." This makes their village financially better off than neighboring villages.

During their journeys, the trainers form an intimate bond with their animals and rely on them. They have an unspoken rule: trainers have meals with monkeys who enjoy the first bowl of food after the performance is over.

"We rely on monkeys for our living so we must treat them well," said Yang.

At an interval in between the performance in Mudanjiang, Bao Fengshan drank water from the same bottle after giving it to his money. "The monkey is just a hairy man who cannot speak," said Bao.

He said he is happy with the monkey and the income is not bad. But the work has its own problems. What make them sad is that sometimes they are chased like beggars and even beaten.

Once Bao asked audience for money after a show was over. A man shouted back: "I'll beat you to death if you ask for my money."

At a temple fair in Baoding, Yang Lingui asked a woman member of the audience for 50 cents but she hit Yang with a brick. Yang was sent to hospital and received 15 stitches.

Even worse is that sometimes the monkeys are confiscated. Yang said his seven monkeys were confiscated by police during a performance at a railway station in Chengdu in 2000. "Seven monkeys equal two years' income. I begged for food and illegally rode on a freight train to return hometown finally."

Audience's attitudes are also changing. Bao Qingshan remembers that in 2011 in Xi'an, he was performing a trick in which he slams his whip on the ground and the money starts 'crying' in pain. Many in the audience started shouting that he was being too cruel and was abusing the animal. Some of them called police and he was driven away.

"The beating of the monkey was fake. They were too angry to find the truth," he said.

The monkey show in Xinye was included into "Henan provincial intangible cultural heritage" in 2009. To make the show sustainable, the local authority wants the show to be transferred to scenic spots or zoos or to be transformed through cooperation with advertisement companies.

Many trainers said they do not want their children to carry on the trade. Besides the toil and unstable income, the stigma is another important reason. They hope their children will study hard and become "decent" people.