The following excellent article, "Chinese Folk Toys," by Qiao Shouning and Cathy Mcaleer, comes from ChinaToday.

"MOST educators believe that playing is a form of learning. What are more than 100 million Chinese children playing with after school? How are millions of preschool children and infants spending their days in kindergarten and at home?

The development of the modern toy industry in China has had an effect on what children play with, but traditional folk toys continue to play a major role in contemporary Chinese culture. As China continues to grow and develop, traditional folk toys are flourishing. Toys represent fundamental ideas, desires, and concerns that are central to the lives of Chinese people and to Chinese culture.

Chinese folk toys enjoy a history as old as the nation itself. Revealing aspects of the land and its rich cultural heritage, they portray the wisdom and creativity of folk artists throughout China. Practical, instructive, and artistic, folk toys are enjoyed by children and adults alike. Further, these toys serve as a means through which Chinese people can express their hopes and desires, as well as their affection towards their children. Infused with a multitude of meanings, from the instructive to the decorative, Chinese folk toys bring beauty and art into ordinary lives.

Playing with History

Colorful glass marbles with flowers or other designs inside of them are quite popular among children across China. Used in a variety of games, these toys, like the children who play with them, have their own ancestors with a long history.

Among the relics unearthed from the ruins of Banpo Village in Xi'an were some small clay and stone balls dating back to the Yangshao Culture of the Neolithic Period (4800-4300 BC). Archeologists believe them to be ancient children's toys. The diameters of these balls vary from 1.1 cm to 3 cm, too small and light to be used as bullets or other weapons. Some of the clay balls have decorative prints and scratches on them. Small pottery and glazed porcelain balls from a later period (4400-3300 B.C.) have also been unearthed in the ruins of Wushan Mountain in Sichuan Province. Scholars argue that more durable and decorative than the earlier clay and stone balls, these are the precursors to the contemporary glass marbles so popular today.

A large number of masks and centimeter-long toys in the shapes of animals such as dragons and lions have been found in the ruins of several places throughout China. Closely linked to the lives of rural people in ancient China, these toys were undoubtedly enjoyed by both children and adults as their contemporary counterparts are today. In today's China, masks and statuettes in the shape of historical characters, beasts, and other animals can be seen in the hands of many children.

Toys with a Voice

Toys with pleasing, rhythmical sounds have always been a favorite of children. Parents sing lullabies and whistle tunes to coax their children into sleeping. But folk toys with simple sounds are equally effective. Small cymbals, bells and little gongs, familiar instruments of traditional Chinese folk music, along with shaking-drums and bird-shaped whistles are among the most popular and common toys, particularly in rural areas.

Whistles of various kinds are perhaps the most common of musical toys. In ancient times, whistles were made and used by hunters. At Tieshan Town in Lushun City, a saddle-shaped pottery, dating back to the Neolithic Period, has been unearthed and, when blown, produces a sharp sound. In later periods, clay coo-coo and other bird-shaped whistles were made. Together with other musical toys, they have been handed down from generation to generation. Today children on city streets as well as those in the countryside enjoy blowing into clay and plastic birds.

Another popular musical toy is the bamboo flute. Bamboo can be found everywhere in southern China and musical toys made out of bamboo tubes along with those made of reed pipes, are quite popular. The bamboo flute, which has several holes drilled into a piece of bamboo, can be blown horizontally or vertically and produces beautiful sounds. A traditional instrument in Chinese folk music, it continues to be widely used by both adults and children. Another traditional wind instrument for children is the Sheng. The Sheng is made of several reed pipes that have been put together with a "mouth" attached. Like the bamboo flute, these reed-pipe instruments have along history in Chinese culture and are still popular today.

Moving Toys

Ancient artisans were capable of producing elaborate movable toys. Using ordinary materials and simple tools, they made the toys that were not only fun to play with but also objects of great beauty.

Clay "roly-poly" figurines are often seen for sale at country fairs. Funny and attractive, these figurines revolve on spherical clay pedestals and never fall down, even when lightly struck by children. Cloth lions and tigers open their mouths and shake their heads or tails when a hand is placed inside the toy's body. Chickens can be made to move their heads up and down as if they were pecking rice.

Among movable toys, shadow puppets enjoy the longest history and best reputation. Made of colored cardboard, leather, or hardened sheets of plastic, they are used by children and adults in a variety of puppet shows. With wires, strings, or sticks attached to them, the puppeteers can move various parts of their bodies. Similarly made furniture is also used as scenery in puppet shows. Many of the sets and characters are from ancient Chinese history and folk literature. Increasingly, however, contemporary figures of soldiers, workers, and peasants enjoy popularity among children. Reflecting aspects of modern Chinese life, these puppets provide a medium for both artists and consumers to express their ideas, concerns and desires for themselves and their children. Moreover, as certain figures grow in popularity and demand, the puppets constitute a kind of cultural record, which enables scholars and others to view changes in and attitudes about Chinese culture.

Toys of Practical Use

Toys are most often seen in terms of their ability to amuse. However, Chinese people, who are known for their thrifty and practical nature, make toys for other purposes as well.

Foodstuff has long been a source for art creation. Culturally expressive and emphasizing traditional materials and culinary devices, some Chinese foods serve not only the need of eating but also the purpose of playing. A good example is the sugar-molded figurines made throughout China.

Sugar-molded toys are children's favorite. Previously melted, the sugar is poured into ready-made wooden or metal molds which are carved in various patterns. The most common motifs are chickens, fish, pigs, horses, lions, and tigers. Candy figurines are also made without molds. In city parks, candy-making artists create various figures with a few quick strokes of a spatula. Fun to observe and eat, these figurines represent figures and designs important in Chinese culture with stories to be told.

Steamed-bread figures are popular in the rural areas of China. Flour is the most fundamental staple in North China. Consequently, steamed-bread is the most basic food. On special occasions, such as Spring Festival, northerners turn this ordinary food into beautiful and expressive toys for children. Shaped into various designs, steamed-bread is often made by grandmothers as gifts for a grandchild's birthday.

One of the most interesting practical toys is the "Shuan Wa Shi" or "Fortune Stone Fastened to an Infant," found in some mountainous areas, especially in North China. Atop the warm and comfortable earthen bed or Kang in many farmers' homes, there sits a small stone-carved lion. Attached to the tiny lion is a piece of red rope, the other end of which is fastened around an infant's waist. The lion stone serves many purposes. Most rural parents are too busy farming and doing housework to tend to their infants. Thus, one function of the stone lion is to keep the baby from falling off the Kang and getting hurt while no one is around. Another purpose is to provide the child with something to play with. Stone lions have even deeper meaning. By securing the lion to the child, parents mean to fasten their baby's "life," "soul," and "future" to the stone lion which, according to Chinese tradition, is a magical and sacred guardian.

Playing for Health

Children are good at imitating adults. While playing, they strengthen themselves and learn practical work skills. To meet children's desires and their physical needs, many health-building toys are produced by rural artisans. For working in the fields, small wooden spades, shovels, and water pails are made for children. For working inside the house, small wood-lathed pots, bowls, and spoons are crafted. All of these toys serve to enculturate children, revealing to them what a good and comfortable home is and what tasks are involved in a life on the farm.

Scented and embroidered sachets are unique toys for children. They are worn around a child's neck for both amusement and health. They are especially worn during the Dragon Boat Festival on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month. These sachets are either embroidered with silk threads or made by winding silk threads over variously-shaped models with hollow centers filled with realgars, rue, and other dried herbs and scented materials. Not only are they perfumed but, more importantly, the medicinal herbs inside the sachets kill bacteria, drive away insects, and thus ensure a child's health.

Modernization

By using traditional forms, folk toy artists not only try to continue the tradition of infusing cultural ideas and thoughts into their works, but they also try to revise and represent these images and ideas in new ways which will assist children as they grow and change along with society.

Popular foreign-shaped dolls are one of the most interesting and obvious folk toys created as part of the modernization process. One can see not only light-faced dolls with curly brown or blonde hair and blue eyes, but also dolls with black faces and short, wavy black hair. Some have argued that these dolls are desired by children because they want to become friends with their peers from all over the world. They are certainly very popular among Chinese children, however their full meanings and purposes have yet to be explored.

Rather than diminishing, Chinese folk toys are flourishing alongside China's modernization. Their enriched, strengthened, and reinterpreted forms attract not only Chinese children, but also adults. Foreigners are also interested in obtaining Chinese folk toys, and more and more hotel gift shops are brimming with them. With the increased interest of foreign visitors, who themselves are interested in ancient Chinese culture, the field of Chinese folk toys will grow. As China's open-door policy continues, and the tourism industry further develops, folk toys will continue to be made for children and adults alike both at home and abroad."

QIAO SHOUNING is a professor of Foreign Language Institute of Shanxi University and CATHY MCALEER holds a masters degree from the Folklore Institute at Indiana University in the United States.
from http://www.china.org.cn/ChinaToday/Today/ChinaToday/ct2000e/03/ct2000-3e-11.htm

Princeton Online
This page of Princeton Online is an excellent compendium of links to Chinese art and folk art and culture.

Chinese Folk Art
This is a commercial site but filled with good information. Chinese Folk Art sells Jinshan & Huxian peasant paintings, silk embroidery, paper cuts, kites, jewelry, batik, maps, toys, & stamps, and offers services for families with children adopted from China.