The surprising life story of Hong Kong street acrobat, 67, who dives and spins for 20,000 passers-by an hour in Mong Kok
Yu Pujiang left home at 13 to join a passing acrobat troupe, before hooking up with father he’d never met in Hong Kong. A construction site accident led him to rethink his priorities and take up performing when he retired
He quite possibly holds the record for being the most watched performer in Hong Kong, but almost no one knows his name. The hourly number of passers-by on the busy Mong Kok street corner that doubles as his stage exceeds the capacity of the Hong Kong Coliseum.
Every weekend, Yu Pujiang stakes out his ground on the intersection of Soy Street and Sai Yeung Choi Street South. He arrives in a black hat and sunglasses to imitate Michael Jackson dance moves to the beat of the king of pop’s 1980s hit, Billie Jean. But that’s only the prelude to the real action.
Shoppers look on bemused as the 67-year-old sprints 30 metres, dives through a dangling hoop and lands on a mattress with a somersault.
The repertoire includes a number of traditional Chinese acrobatic feats rarely seen in Hong Kong. Yu lies on the ground, legs in the air, and spins a pot the size of his torso; flips metal bowls with his feet, catching them in a stack on his head; and balances on a rolling cylinder while twirling hula hoops. But he hasn’t had a fixed programme for his street acrobatics since he started performing in the area – which is pedestrianised late in the day on weekends and public holidays – six years ago.
Dozens of YouTube users have posted videos capturing Yu’s acrobatics and none have recorded his name, but fame isn’t what drives him.
“Never mind my name. People recognise me for what I can do. That defines who I am,” he says, in a mish-mash of Putonghua and Cantonese.