A tragicomic journey with monkeys
Yang Lingui is one of the many monkey buskers that the Chinese National Geographic magazine photographer Ma Hongjie has been tracking and photographing for some 12 years. Photo: Ma Hongjie
Yang lingui and his monkeys traveling by a train. Photo: Ma Hongjie
The son of monkey busker Huang Aiqing sleeps with a baby monkey. Photo: Ma Hongjie
The daughter of a monkey busker cuddles two baby monkeys in Xinye, Henan Province on October 2014. Photo: Xu Xiaolin/thepaper.cn
A woman is feeding a baby monkey. The lifespan of a monkey is 20 to 30 years, and the monkey trainers look after them from birth to death. Photo: Ma Hongjie
Monkey busker Huang Aiqing treats an injured monkey during a monkey fight. Huang and his wife also conducted a caesarean surgery on monkeys with labor difficulties. Photo: Ma Hongjie
Monkey busker Yang Lingui swims with his two monkeys on a hot summer day. Photo: Ma Hongjie
A portrait of monkey busker Qiao Meiting and his monkey from Xinye, Henan Province. Few young people are joining the traditional monkey show business as it earns little and is looked down by many people. After four monkey trainers were convicted of animal abuse by a court in July 2014, the number of monkey trainers has been decreasing even faster. Photo: Ma Hongjie
A monkey busker is training a monkey to walk on stilts. Photo: thepaper.cn
Yang carries his monkeys on a bicycle in South China's Guangdong Province in November 2007. Photo: Ma Hongjie
A monkey busker shares his food with his monkeys. Photo: Ma Hongjie
Yang Lingui performs with his monkeys at a show. Photo: Ma Hongjie
When they perform, the whip will not actually fall on monkeys and monkeys will not hit or severely scratch their human partners. Photo: Ma Hongjie
A monkey busker is rehearsing with his monkey. Monkeys and buskers build mutual trust so that they don't hurt each other even when they use dangerous tools like kitchen knife, just like well-matched show partners. Photo: thepaper.cn
Yang digs a grave for one of his monkeys that died. Yang said monkey buskers are devastated to see their monkeys die, as monkeys are like their children. Photo: Ma Hongjie
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