SHANGHAI – A Chinese magician is under attack by animal rights groups for his synchronized goldfish act!
A Chinese magician has sparked outrage from animal rights groups with a trick in which he gets goldfish to swim in sync, prompting China’s state broadcaster to cancel an encore performance Thursday.
However, a separate regional broadcaster said magician Fu Yandong would perform the controversial trick again on Thursday night — and reveal its secret so as to silence his critics.
Fu dazzled audiences two weeks ago with the trick and had planned a repeat performance Thursday on a Lunar New Year holiday show on CCTV.
A CCTV spokeswoman said he would not perform on the show, declining to give further details.
Animal rights activists cried foul over the stunt, saying Fu had likely fed the fish magnets — or implanted them in the fish — so they could be dragged around their tank from underneath.
They said the trick amounted to animal cruelty.
Fu’s agent Liang Ming said he would not perform the trick.
The CCTV gala marks the end of the Lantern Festival, which signifies the conclusion of China’s roughly two-week Lunar New Year holiday, the nation’s biggest and most important festival.
Fu had been billed as one of the highlights of the Lantern Festival show.
Hundreds of millions of viewers watched Fu perform the trick two weeks earlier on CCTV’s Spring Festival Gala, China’s most watched programme of the year.
The trick involves six fish in a shallow tank on a covered table, who swim in formation at Fu’s command.
Fu has so far refused to reveal the secret.
“My fish,” he wrote on his microblog, are “living happily”.
But his assurances have failed to quell the controversy.
In an open letter on Monday, 53 Chinese non-governmental organisations urged TV stations not to broadcast Fu’s act in the future, and demanded the trick not be repeated during CCTV’s Lantern Festival special.
The groups expressed fears the trick could lead to animals being tortured if viewers tried to copy it.
“Fu Yandong, based on the tradition of secrecy in the world of magic, refuses to reveal what lies under his trick. So the public remains unclear whether the fishes’ safety is assured,” the letter said.
But regional broadcaster Hunan Television, which has booked Fu to perform live for its own Lantern Festival special, said on its website Thursday he would perform the trick on the show and reveal the secret.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0cAMAy-WL4&w=480&l=385]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiYLOkXuHAc&w=480&l=385]
shallow tray, small fish, don't seem to exhibit swimming motion……..magnets in the fish, over wires dragging the fish across the table!
switch polarity to get them to move in opposition to each other
How would wires do anything? Unless you're implying electromagnets/coils, but reversing polarity would probably just cause the fish to flip upside down, lol
网友一解密：“所有的鱼缸水都很浅，因为在鱼缸下面有电磁的布线（用来安排金鱼走）。最残酷的部分是在这些金鱼的肚子里面安排磁铁（懂外科手术的人会很明白的），这样，金鱼就会按你的指示行走。
OMG PEOPLE PLEASE "WATCH" THE VIDEO BEFORE YOU COMMENT… These are not real fish…they are fakes…..on stiff strings under the table so that you don't see them….please don't buy into animal cruelty claims….if you watch the film in full view….you can see him take a vase with the "fish" in it…do you see the fish "swim" in the jar…no……then he dumps the "fish" into the tank….and then they don't really move much….so please, look at it again from the beginning in full view and then form an opinion……..I'm just sayin………..I've seen way to many magicians (and this is all this poor guy is…) to not think that this is just that a trick and nothing more.
an addendum to my original comment..i watched the second video on file here. If the second video is true….did anyone think about scent trails in the water which fish HAVE to follow? I have studied fishes for a number of years and that would be the only other explanation I would / could have…….but you be the judge.