Ching Ling Foo

He was the first magician from East Asia to achieve world fame — and precisely because of that fame, a white performer copied his name almost exactly. Few positions in the history of magic are stranger.

Key achievements

1. Born in a suburb of Peking; he is said to have performed before the Empress Dowager Cixi and been appointed court conjurer.
2. His 1898 appearances at the world's fair in Omaha caused a sensation.
3. Performed in the United States, South Africa and Europe, becoming the first East Asian magician of world renown.
4. Houdini called him a "super magician".
5. In January 1905 a dispute over who was "the original Chinese conjurer" led him to issue a £1,000 challenge to Chung Ling Soo in London.

From the court

He was born in 1854 in a suburb of Peking, as Chee Ling Qua.

As a young man, a son of Prince Ching saw him perform and pressed his father to act, with the result that he was appointed court conjurer under the Qing dynasty. He is recorded as having performed before the Empress Dowager Cixi.

In other words, he had already reached the top of his own country before he ever went abroad.

Omaha, 1898

In 1898 he appeared at the world’s fair in Omaha.

The piece he performed there, producing a large bowl of water, caused a sensation. Western audiences were seeing genuine Chinese material performed by a genuine Chinese conjurer, for the first time.

He went on to perform in the United States, South Africa and Europe — the first case of a performer from East Asia achieving worldwide renown.

Houdini, his contemporary, called him a “super magician.”

His name is copied

And then his success produced something peculiar.

In 1900 the American conjurer William Ellsworth Robinson invented a Chinese stage identity for himself under the name Chung Ling Soo. The resemblance was not accidental; Robinson remade himself off the back of Foo’s popularity.

A real Chinese performer wins world fame, and a white performer follows by playing a Chinese man. It is a structure now identified as yellowface, though on Western stages of the period “mystery from a distant country” carried substantial commercial value.

London, January 1905

In January 1905 both men were performing in London, and both were billing themselves as the original Chinese conjurer.

Foo issued a challenge. He offered £1,000 if Chung Ling Soo could perform ten of his twenty pieces, or if he himself failed to perform any one of Soo’s.

A date was set.

On the day, Chung Ling Soo appeared. Foo did not.

Why that happened is not established, and this archive records only what occurred. What is certain is that the outcome left the imitator looking like the original.

Why he is in this archive

Chung Ling Soo is heavily recorded in the history of magic on the strength of his dramatic life. But the fact that there was a real Chinese performer behind the name is often set to one side.

Ching Ling Foo was the man who was copied. He reached the top of his own country’s court, went abroad under his own power, and held foreign audiences with genuine material. Recording that order of events is part of telling the period honestly.

He died around 1922.

Notable works

• The production of a large bowl of water, the piece that made his name in Omaha
• His performances at the Qing imperial court

Chronology

Only years that could be verified are listed.

1. 1854 Born in a suburb of Peking
2. 1898 Performs at the world's fair in Omaha and causes a sensation
3. 1905 In January, issues a £1,000 challenge to Chung Ling Soo in London; on the appointed day Soo appeared and Foo did not
4. 1922 Dies around this year