MYSTERY MAN: Magician Louis Liu performs in Shandong on June 20 (CFP)

Performing magic is fast becoming one of the hottest trends in China this year. Much of the credit for this burst of interest goes to Louis Liu, 33, a Taiwanese magician. He leapt to stardom on the mainland overnight after performing magic on this year's CCTV Spring Festival Gala, the most watched program on Chinese TV.

In the performance, Liu magically put the ring of a gala hostess into an egg. The trick impressed millions of viewers, and Liu was praised as one of the best performers on the show.

Although Liu had appeared on CCTV several years before, and he also had been invited to participate in some local TV shows, his name was still unknown to most Chinese. But the 2009 Spring Festival Gala of CCTV changed all that. It was this eight-minute show that changed his life.

Although he was not the first magician to appear on CCTV's Spring Festival Gala, he is the only one that audiences remember.

Along with his fame, Liu's appearance fees have rocketed. It is alleged that he now charges six times more than before the festival. The public exposure has been nothing short of magical.

Liu began to learn magic at the age of 7, after being fascinated by a trick performed by a magician in a department store. At the age of 12, he won first prize in a magic competition in Taiwan at which David Copperfield, Liu's idol, was one of the judges. Liu then went on to win awards at magic competitions across the globe. He is now busy with his Asian tour.

Mysterious man

However, more than Liu's success, what is more important is the national interest in magic he has aroused. The direct result was the mushrooming of magic-related programs on various TV stations across the country. By inviting magic lovers to participate in the shows and professional magicians to be judges, these programs are drawing record ratings whenever they are aired.

Books about magic have also become popular, especially those written by Liu. Websites about magic appear one after another. These websites sell stage props to perform magic and provide the secrets of how to perform magic. Magic fans also buy books or video materials on magic on these websites and exchange knowledge and experience about magic in the forum space provided.

The sales lists of dangdang.com and amazon.cn, two of the largest online bookstores in China, show that after the 2009 Spring Festival, the sales of books about magic increased sharply. Many bookshops have set up special counters for magic books.

Zhang Zhe, 25, who works for an engineering company in Beijing, bought a book by Liu, Fascination of Magic, after Spring Festival. "I could not find it in bookstores near my company and then I had to resort to the online bookstore, which also let me wait around one month. The book sells very well," Zhang said. He admitted that he hopes to learn some tricks in order to perform in front of his friends. "Performing magic is so cool," he said.

WATCH CLOSELY: Stage props for magic shows are popular among young Chinese (CFP)

Besides adults, children are another group of Liu's fans. Finding out how to perform simple tricks interests them very much. A magic goods merchant at the Tianyi Wholesale Market in Beijing said that his sales have doubled since last year, with average daily sales reaching 10,000 yuan ($1,500). "Most of the goods that had been in stock for years sold out," he said.

Seeing Liu as their idol, many children hope to follow in his footsteps and this has boosted the popularity of magic schools.

Yuan Xijun, Manager of Beijing Qitian Magic Performance and Training Center, has been a direct recipient of the favorable change. "In the past, the busiest time of our center was from October to January," he said in an article in China Cultural Daily. "But this year, just after the Spring Festival Gala at the end of January, we began to receive consultation calls asking for registration information." According to Yuan, the ages of those wanting to learn magic vary from 3 to 70 years old, and the learners include people from all walks of life.