Here are another two videos of Bowl and Beans,


Bowl and beans - red balls on red background
http://www.56.com/u11/v_MjEzMjk1Mjg.html

and

Another bowl and beans - 62 minutes! I have not been able to watch this one yet.
http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMTcyMjYxMTQ0.html

I was talking to a Chinese magician, he said the most difficult part of the routine is the patter.
If you understand Chinese, the way they patter is very interesting. They will talk in a fast but consise manner, describing where the ball is and what is happening. I have the "Chinese Classic Illusions Magic" book which I bought in FISM. Some of the classics are translated to English but the Bowl and beans were not translated.

The couple of clips I saw they were basically just starting out by proving that the bowls were not gimmicked and were just bowls. From there it was mainly just "I take this ball and put it here, then this ball I put here, and now that one is now over here etc etc". No story, just describing what they were doing. Maybe they felt that as the Chinese can be quite suspicious, they had to prove to the specs that the bowls were "Just" bowls and nothing more.

Jojo : That's interesting......quite unlike the usual approach to C&B here in the West where the conventional wisdom is that you shouldn't reduce your patter to simply describing what you're doing with the C&B.........."now, I take this ball here and put it under this cup here which you can see is completely empty"........we're always taught what a no-no that is. Interesting that in the Chinese C&B clips you're referring to, that may be all the performer is saying throughout.

Fortasse

Maybe Bernard can chime in here about their patter, but that was it really. I was a bit surprised, but most Chinese magicians I knew liked to do silent stage acts. Most close up guys I knew, (In Taiwan anyways) would do the same really, just describe what they were doing and rely on the reveals and endings to carry the magic.

The little Indian boy performing the Indian cups (a thread a few months ago)was doing the same routine basically as these Chinese magi, but had a cute patter to his routine. Simple for a boy and very suitable for his character. In my opinion much more fun to watch and enjoy.

JoJo

ps. I'll check out a few more and see if they are the same.

Another bowl and beans - 62 minutes! I have not been able to watch this one yet.
http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMTcyMjYxMTQ0.html

I just took a look at this one and in my opinion it's not worth checking out for a couple of reasons. The recording quality is quite poor with a bunch of the screen where the action happens blurry with a huge date stamp on it as well. He's doing the same thing, just a few simple effects with no patter or story line to very little response or reaction from the crowd.

Just to clarify, there is a whole bunch of acts on this clip. Interesting, but not really high on the entertainment scale. IMHO anyway.

The patter they use actually describes what they are doing with the ball. Like what JoJo said "I take this ball and put it here, then this ball I put here, and now that one is now over here etc etc".
They talk in a fast speed at times and it is not boring at all even though they are describing what they are doing. They also have fanciful names for their moves.

Found another video. About 13 mins routine. http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/yChnBwFQYj4/

The same thing happened in China during the Yuan Dynasty, under the rule of Kubilai Kahn (1271–1368). Because the Great Kahn ruled over such a vast empire, he had a Pahgs Pah priest devise a script that was based upon phonics, as a first step toward a universal language. The Pahgs Pah script was created specifically to fit these needs, outlined by the Great Kahn. Unfortunately, old habits die hard, and in spite of repeated proclamations of this being the official script to be used in all empirical writings, no one ever wanted to use it. This was probably because the script looked very much like a collection of square mazes, making it difficult to read. Examples can be seen in a copy of National Geographic, in an article telling of the Great Kahn's attempted navel attacks on Japan (where/when the term kamikaze, or "Divine Wind" originated). Thus is why the east still does not have a common script/language.

As a side note, I have created a paddle effect that features this unknown bit of history in it's patter.
Human nature is a stubborn beast.

Hi, joining the party late but this is an amazing show on traditional chinese magic : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggva_hJxH4U

Do you have other links or recommendations ?

cheers
VG