Shanghai Circus World: China's No. 1 Circus City
Basic information
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Name | Shanghai Circus World (including the mid-size theatre) |
| Address | 2266 Gonghexin Road (the Daning quarter, next to Daning Lingshi Park) |
| Ground broken | July 1998 |
| Opened | 10 September 1999 |
| Scale | a site of about 22,500 m²; an acrobatics arena of 1,638 seats |
| Performing body | Shanghai Acrobatic Troupe |
| Keywords | "China's No. 1 Circus City", the golden dome, "Oriental Night", "ERA — Intersection of Time" |
10 September 1999
On that day a building with a golden dome rose at 2266 Gonghexin Road.
Gong Xueping, deputy secretary of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee, declared Circus World open, and the large-scale themed gala "Oriental Night", tailor-made by the Shanghai Acrobatic Troupe for the opening, had its premiere. Shanghai people have remembered a name ever since: Shanghai Circus World.
It has a resounding title — "China's No. 1 Circus City". This title was no self-bestowed slogan: in 1999 it was one of the most fully equipped acrobatics and circus performance venues in the country, and the golden dome became a mark on the skyline of north Shanghai.
Why "first the circus, then the park"
Ground was broken for Circus World in July 1998 — it was built jointly by the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Culture and the Zhabei District Government, designed by Tongji University, and constructed by the Municipal No. 4 Construction Company.
Put it back into the Daning of the 1990s and the order becomes legible:
1999 Shanghai Circus World opens ← culture
2000 Daning Lingshi Park begun ← ecology
2000 the Daning commercial and cultural centre lands ← commerce
2006 the new Daning centre takes shape ← ten years to grind one sword
2008 the Daning Group is founded ← industry
What Zhabei put up first was a cultural facility. The logic was: use a cultural landmark able to draw the whole city to establish the "reason" for this patch of land, and only then speak of the park, the commerce, the housing. Ordinary urban development works the other way round.
So Circus World is not merely a performance venue; it was the first move in the piecemeal development of Daning (for the full story of this quarter, see Daning Road Subdistrict and Daning Lingshi Park).
A "city" that can hold a three-dimensional show
At the heart of Circus World is the acrobatics arena — 1,638 seats, fully equipped with stage lighting and multi-channel, multi-surround sound. Its stage configuration was well ahead of its time:
- a revolving stage, a compound lift stage, a proscenium stage and fly bars;
- plus three rings of aerial runway overhead —
together this combination let it "stage three-dimensional, large-scale shows in the air, at mid-height and on the ground at the same time".
The whole "city" is made up of five parts: the acrobatics arena, the rehearsal and support building, the amusement arcade, the animal house and the performers' reception centre; the supporting cultural and commercial centre has a floor area of 12,000 m². From rehearsal and animal training to performance and hosting, one Circus World is a complete "performance ecology".
The troupe inside the city: the Shanghai Acrobatic Troupe
The performing body of Circus World is the Shanghai Acrobatic Troupe — a name quite unusual among China's performing-arts companies: it was the first performing-arts company in China to give commercial performances.
Its steps abroad were early:
- 1980: a tour to six cities including New York;
- 1981: it sent a troupe of 80, carrying giant pandas east to Japan, for a commercial tour lasting four months.
Before it moved into Circus World it had a winding "family history" of its own:
| Time | Event |
|---|---|
| before 1958 | with no fixed performance venue, it concentrated on factory, countryside, army and touring shows, and still averaged 441 performances a year |
| 1964 | a purpose-built theatre, the Shanghai Acrobatics Theatre, was completed, and two companies took turns to perform; even during the "Cultural Revolution" the annual count stayed above 300 |
| to May 1995 | more than 10,000 performances at the acrobatics theatre, received by more than ten million Chinese and foreign spectators |
| May 1995 | the Shanghai Acrobatics Theatre was demolished, the troupe moved to the Chengshi Theatre, and still kept up about 300 performances a year |
| 1999 | it moved into Shanghai Circus World with the opening show "Oriental Night"; from that year the troupe and Circus World were managed as one |
| March 2000 | Shanghai Circus World Performance Co., Ltd. was registered, dealing exclusively in performances |
One theatre demolished, one troupe moved house, and in the end it came to rest inside a "city".
"Performing every day" and "ERA — Intersection of Time"
Circus World's real national fame was won in the 2000s.
- from September 2004 Circus World had a show every day (from September 1999 to June 2005 there were 1,669 performances in all);
- from September 2005 the newly created "ERA — Intersection of Time" was given a fixed "every-day" slot at Circus World — by December 2010 it had run 2,092 performances to 1.97 million spectators;
- in December 2022 "ERA — Intersection of Time" was named one of Shanghai's "ten great cultural brands".
One show, performed every day and every year, became a cultural calling card of Shanghai. That is the achievement of "ERA — Intersection of Time", and also the achievement of the "perform every day" model.
Circus World today
Circus World is still growing. According to public material from the Jing'an District People's Government:
- it is pressing ahead with the upgrading and redevelopment of Shanghai Circus World's mid-size theatre and new performance spaces — on 12 December 2023 work began on the mid-size theatre;
- it is building the "performance cluster around Circus World";
- drawing on Daning Park, it is creating an immersive comprehensive performance venue.
From one theatre to a performing-arts cluster — the "cultural chess piece" set up in 1999 is still being played today.
Practical tips
- Address: 2266 Gonghexin Road;
- get off at Metro Line 1's "Shanghai Circus World" station and you are there (the station is named after it);
- tickets are needed for performances, and schedules are subject to official channels;
- it is right beside Daning Lingshi Park, so you can arrange half a day of "park + performance" (Daning Lingshi Park).
Connections
- Sub-district：Daning Road Subdistrict
- See also：Daning Lingshi Park, Daning Road Subdistrict, 8. Thirty Years of Catching Up
Sources: the lineage and performance data of the acrobatic troupe and Circus World follow the relevant chapters of the Gazetteer of the Shanghai Acrobatic Troupe of the Shanghai Municipal Local Gazetteers Office; the building and facility data follow the official introduction of Shanghai Circus World and the relevant entries of Kuaidong Baike and factpedia; the upgrading and the "performance cluster around Circus World" follow the Jing'an District People's Government's reply to a proposal by municipal people's congress deputies. The full bibliography is in Appendix 4.