Magicians popping up

Magic fever "is helping every kind of magic to thrive in Baofeng," says historian Xu Qiu. "The local government encourages the industry because it helps the economy."

今年45岁的王韦恩来自北京，现经营一家软件企业的他在美国留学时曾学过魔术。他说：“舞蹈和流行音乐已经不再新鲜了，但是魔术却能使人眼前一亮。对于很多年轻人来说，魔术就是一种时尚新潮流。”

"Dancing and pop music are no longer fresh, but magic makes people's eyes pop out," says Wayne Wang, 45, of Beijing, a software entrepreneur who learned magic as a student in the USA. "Magic is new and fashionable to a lot of young people."

“我们不是邪门歪道” 'We are not a cult'

多年来，魔术师王韦恩一直努力申请成立一个类似美国魔术师协会的中国魔术师联盟。他说，在中国，魔术是归中央宣传部下属的中国杂技协会管理的。

Wayne Wang has tried for years to get government approval for a Chinese Magicians Association, akin to the Society of American Magicians. In China, magic falls under the control of the China Acrobatic Association, which is part of the Communist Party's propaganda department, he says.

“现在是时候开设一个全国性的联盟了，这样所有的魔术师都能加入进来。”他说。

"It's time to open up, to have a nationwide association, so all the individual magicians could join in," he says.