Mo's Magic

By Jucel Balaoag on 05/03/2025

Modern Chinese Magic

Mo's magic has a history of 120 years. The Mo family's magic performances are known for their grand style, stable temperament, elegant demeanour, clear explanations, and precise yet delicate techniques.

History of Mo's Family Magic

The Mo family magic is famous in China, and Mo-style magic is the oldest and most influential magic school in China. Mo's style of magic consists of outstanding artistic performance, colourful magic techniques, and exquisite production of magic props. This, in turn, has made Mo's genre of magic famous in China and many more countries and formed a unique school - "Mo's genre of magic".

Mo Wuqi - officially debuted in 1905 and became the first professional magician in Shanghai. Mo Wuqi brought Western magic to the stage in China. He is the founder of modern Chinese magic.

Shaoxian Mo - The Third-Generation Inheritor of "Mo" magic.

His son, Mo Feixian, inherited his father's business, improved the artistic taste of Mo-style magic, and was a pioneer in performing Western magic in China. He is the second-generation inheritor of Mo's genre of magic. Shaoxian Mo - the third-generation inheritor of "Mo" magic.

Since inheriting the family business in 1972 and officially performing on stage, he has over 50 years of experience performing stage and close-up magic. He was the chief magician of the former Shanghai Acrobatic Troupe and a director of the Shanghai Acrobatic Association.

Shaoxian Mo's original programs

Man Turning into a Wolf Dog
Rapid Relocation
Human Body through Glass
Disappearing Record Player

These are the only large-scale magic programs in China that can be viewed from a 360-degree angle. They have been unanimously recognized by peers and experts, and no one has surpassed them. In recent years, he has been appointed as a magic lecturer in major universities in Shanghai.

Qing Qian - The Fourth-Generation Inheritor of the Mo's Magic

Qing Qian is the fourth-generation inheritor of the Mo's magic, the wife of Mr Mo Shaoxian, a member of the Shanghai Acrobatics Association, a famous female magician, and the founder of Shanghai Gan Yun Culture Communication Co., Ltd. She is excellent at performing various types of stage magic.

Her performance style is grand, free-spirited, and interactive, with vigorous and neat techniques.

Qing Qian's REPRESENTATIVE WORK

Bai Hua Zheng Yan
Qian Bian Wan Hua
Sichuan Opera "Faces Change"
Large-scale costume magic "Fang Hua Si Jin"
Original ancient colour magic "Luo Circle Presents Color", which has a distinct and unique national style.

For more than 100 years, Mo-style magic has been passed on from generation to generation as an intangible cultural heritage. Five generations have carried out magic research and teaching work, published more than 30 magic monographs and related work, held more than 3,000 magic lectures, trained hundreds of professional magic performers, and won countless awards in top magic competitions in China and across the globe.

More Details

We cannot talk about face-changing without mentioning Sichuan opera. Sichuan Opera is one of many local operas in China, and it is popular in the provinces of Sichuan, Yunnan, and Guizhou. Face-changing is not simply changing one's facial makeup in a casual way, but it is a unique technique in the performance of Sichuan Opera. It refers to changing masks in quick succession to show the different emotions and feelings of the characters in the play.

It is said the origin of face changing has something to do with the resistance of wild beasts. In ancient times, when coming across a ferocious animal, people drew different patterns on their faces to scare the animal away and keep themselves safe. Later on, such a trick was applied to the stage performance of the Sichuan Opera, and the unique art of face-changing has thus come into being.

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