A three-year-old Chinese girl created a sensation by walking on a thin wire barehanded above six hungry Siberian tigers at a zoo in eastern Jiangsu province, local media reported. On her first step, Zhang Xiaoyan of the Jiangxi Elite Children Arts Troupe, was nearly blown off the wire by a strong gust of wind in front of a worried audience. The girl held no balancing pole, and simply used her outstretched arms to keep balance. A safety rope was attached around her waist to save her from the big cats that were watching eagerly from nine meters (29 feet) below. The stunt also involved two adult acrobats who crossed the wire using a bicycle and a ladder as props. Zhang's performance was set to challenge performer Adili Wuxor, who in 1997 attracted the world's attention to the old Uigur acrobatics by walking across the Yangtze River in the fastest speed ever recorded. The stunt established a new Guinness World Record and won him the title of “Prince of High-wire Walking”. “I am afraid of the tigers standing below, as they can bite,” Zhang told a journalist after she was lowered from the wire by two fellow performers. Zhang, deemed the world's youngest tightrope walker by local media, started training when she was a year old. “Yes, I do (like tightrope walking), because I started from a very young age,” she said when asked if she liked tightrope walking. Spectators were impressed, but not her father Zhang Shenwen, also the director of the troupe. “She walked almost 60 meters yesterday when we did the training. She didn't do so well today,” he said. The girl failed three times before managing to walk 50 meters. “I was a bit worried. People say tigers cannot climb trees, but one of the tigers jumped and another one climbed onto the tree yesterday during the training. I was so scared,” Zhang added. The father and troupe director has drawn criticism for pulling the stunt which critics say amounted to child abuse. added by: ctv
