Cirque Chimelong in Guangzhou, China © Jojie Alcantara

Chime-Long International Circus in Guangzhou, China is a global village in itself. As the world’s largest permanent circus, founded in 2000, with more than 8000 seats in the circus stadium, the circus performers are a merry mix of colorful races plus a horde of talented animals. The spectacle equals one fantastic show combining the best international circus acts.

Since the circus’s commencement, it has produced three successful and uniquely different shows, including the first show "The Galaxy", the second show "The Jurassic Moon", and the current and third show, "Forest Code" since 2009. This recent show has created many records, such as having the world's biggest realistic stage, the world's most luxurious circus, the circus with the most number of performers and animals, and many more.

Besides the luxurious design of the huge stage and settings, the circus also has the most star-studded lineup for the performance. There are more than 300 international professional performers from all over the world, including Russians, Americans, Colombians, Thais, Ukrainians, among others. In addition, there are hundreds of different kinds of animal performances in the show.

According to its website, the stage is such a large area that numerous kinds of lighting equipment are necessary to create dramatic scenes, so in order to make each light work efficiently, all the lighting equipment is controlled by a central computer. All the lightings have been pre-designed to create different scenes, such as day time, night, or in any other different situations according to the development of the show.

Watching this extravaganza of a dynamic stage setup with rain, thunder, lightning, smoke, fire and artificial water surrounding the movable platforms, topped with incredible light and sound effects was too much for the ecstatic child in me. I wanted to just watch with open-mouthed awe instead of shoot in such low lighting. Then again, the photojournalist in me couldn’t stop as well. The set design, costumes and performances are breathtaking.

The show begins at 19:30pm every night throughout the year other than during holidays and special occasions. Cost is 250 RMB for adults, and 125 RMB for children.

Official English website: http://www.chimelong.com/enpark/circus.aspx

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