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TAIYUAN， July 16 (Xinhua) -- An important base for the Chinese army during World War II， Liyu Village， deep in the Taihang Mountains in north China's Shanxi Province， was once best known for a homemade landmine.

Villager Wang Laifa， the "King of Landmine，" made and laid hundreds of landmines as the plucky village attempted to repel the Japanese invaders. It's a story every Chinese schoolchild knows.

Seventy years on and the village is facing another kind of battle: the fight against poverty. Once again， it is all about bangs and flashes and the element of surprise， but this time， it's magic!

Village Party head Wang Zhuhong was scratching his head in early 2009， wondering what could be done to bring some money into Liyu， when he saw Taiwan magician Lu Chen on the Chinese New Year gala. Almost no one had heard of Lu at that time， but he became household name overnight.

"I had no idea that a stage magician could be so famous and make that much money，" said Wang， who there and then came up with the idea of transforming Liyu into China's magic village.

BREAD AND CIRCUSES

Bread has to be won. It cannot just be conjured out of thin air， and over the past six years， Wang has taken his fellow villagers on an enchanted journey that has filled both their bellies and their purses.

From an early age， Wang had been fascinated by street magic shows and circus performers. He had learned a few tricks from TV and by searching on the Internet， but never saw his skills as anything other than fun.

Convincing his fellow villagers that his harmless hobby could be a way for them to earn a living was not easy. His idea was strongly opposed by his No. 2， who believed magic shows were "not a decent business" and "embarrassing."

"They said the profit from magic shows would be even less than the yield from a small plot，" Wang recalled.

After a door-to-door visit to all villagers， only two eight-year-old boys agreed to learn from him. While teaching the boys， Wang applied for a spot on a local TV gala， and by the magic of television， Wang and his two tiny tyros became overnight "stars，" at least in the village， and villagers were suddenly queuing up to join in.

"More kids turned to me to learn tricks， but I told them it was useless unless their parents joined in too，" he smiled.

By the end of the year， Wang's troupe had costumes and equipment and were taking bookings for weddings and company parties.

"At first we performed for free， and through these performances， we became more confident on stage."

SPINNING STRAW INTO GOLD

Hao Lanying thought the performers were a bunch of "loafers and idlers." Then she found out that each performer was making 100 yuan (about 15 U.S. dollars) to 200 yuan for each show， and even she， at 70 years old， decided to learn from scratch and join Wang's magic circle.

"At first I was afraid of being made fun of for my lame performances， but after practicing tens of thousands of times， I feel much more confident，" she said.

Of the village's 900 residents， around half of them are able to perform some stage magic. More than 200 give performances regularly in nearby cities and towns. They each make around 3，000 yuan a year from their perform.