DONGYING, Feb 7: Macaques in frilly dresses turn backflips and answer maths questions for crowds of screaming children at a Chinese monkey school, where trainers teach them to waltz and play rock drums.
Shows featuring performing simians, popular in China and throughout Asia, are expecting a boost in the Lunar New Year of the monkey, which begins tomorrow.
But they are facing a growing backlash from Chinese people concerned about animal welfare.
“It’s like a human school, but using monkeys,” said Takeshi Soma, the Japanese “headmaster” of the facility, at a zoo in Dongying in the eastern province of Shandong.
His charges are about a dozen macaques from snow-capped mountains near Tokyo, who receive one-on-one tuition from a team of live-in instructors.
“This kind of training is the first in China,” tracksuited Soma said.
He watched as staff in sequined waistcoats clothed the monkeys in multicoloured gowns, leading them on stage in a mock Viennese ball.
“I think this is the only place that does that,” he said.
Four of the animals are training as a mock rock band, led by a monkey with a red bow tie and pink toy microphone.
But a recent rehearsal ended with one macaque walking on his hands away from a miniature drum kit after a few tender taps, and another slamming down her plastic guitar before running to stage left.
“Our monkeys don’t listen to us very well. But that’s what is funny about it all. Monkeys being natural and being themselves,” added Soma.
Such performances have a centuries-old history in China, and today monkeys are often seen at country fairs catching knives and riding bicycles.
As China’s economy has boomed, the scale of the shows has increased. More than a dozen zoos in the country now offer monkey performances.
China has no laws protecting non-endangered species, but a growing animal protection movement has condemned the displays as cruel.
Their cause was aided when video of a bear biting and clawing a monkey after the two fell off their bicycles in an “Animal Olympics” in the eastern city of Shanghai, went viral in 2013. (AGENCIES)
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