GAMES AND RIDDLES
Chinese children are kept so busy at work or study that a stranger
might at first be tempted to think their lives were all work and no
play. In time, however, one discovers that they have many kinds of
amusements.
A favourite game is played with a ball of tightly wound cotton thread,
which is bounced upon the pavement, the player trying to whirl round
as often as possible, before giving another pat to make it jump again.
Boys are fond of ‘kicking the shuttlecock.’ They are wonderfully clever
with their feet, and send the shuttlecock flying from one to another,
turning, dodging, leaning this way and that, so as to kick freely. The
shuttlecock is kept on the wing for a long time in this way without
once falling to the ground. They play tipcat too, but their game is
more difficult than ours. ‘Knuckle-bones’ and a guessing game, played
with the fingers, like the Italian Mora, are also favourite amusements.
Another game is ‘tiger trap.’ To play it, a number of boys and girls
take hands and stand in two lines, facing each other. One waits at the
end of the double row of children and bleats, as a kid does in a trap
set for Mr Stripes. Then the tiger darts in between the lines to catch
the kid. The moment he does so, the children at the ends close up.
Unless the tiger bounces out very quickly he is caught and the kid runs
away.
There are several kinds of blind man’s buff. One is called ‘Catching
fishes in the dark.’ Each child chooses the name of a fish, calling
himself dragon-shrimp, squid, red chicken, or some other kind of fish.
The boy who is to be ‘he’ is blinded. Then the fishes run past, trying
to touch the blind man as they go. If one gets caught ‘he’ must name it
rightly. If ‘he’ names the wrong fish, away runs the boy. Another kind
is ‘Call the chickens home.’ In this game the blind man says ‘Tsoo,
tsoo, come seek your mother,’ then the other children, who are the
chickens, run up and try to touch him without being caught. If one is
caught he becomes blind man.
When playing ‘Eating fishes’ heads and tails,’ several children take
hold of each other’s jackets to form the fish. The first one is the
head, which is supposed to be too fierce to be captured; the last one
is the tail which may be seized and eaten. One of the players stands
by himself. Suddenly he begins to chase the fish, trying to catch its
tail. Every time he makes a rush the head of the fish faces round, and
the players, forming the tail, swing to one side to avoid being caught,
as in our ‘Fox and chickens.’
Kite flying is an amusement of which boys as well as grown men are
very fond. Little toddlers begin with tiny kites, cleverly made out
of folded paper, but the older boys are more ambitious. Some of their
kites are made to look like birds and have a bow, strung with a thin
flat strip of bamboo, tied behind the wings. When the bird rises in the
wind it hovers like a living thing, and the strip of bamboo buzzes with
a loud humming noise. Others are shaped like butterflies, centipedes,
and other creatures. One of the most beautiful kites is shaped like a
fish, so as to curve and sway in the air, much as a fish does in water.
There are several games played with cash, one in which the coins are
thrown into a hole scooped by the roadside; another in which they are
struck against a wall, so as to rebound and fall beside a certain mark
on the ground, but these, as a rule, are a kind of gambling.
Here are names of some other games which may interest you: ‘Threading
the needle’; ‘Waiting for the seeker,’ a game like ‘I spy’; ‘Hopping
race’; ‘Let the prince cross over’; ‘Circling the field to catch
the rat’; ‘The mud turtle’ and ‘The water demon seeking for a den,’
which is played by five children, but otherwise is like ‘Puss in the
corner.’ ‘Sawing wood’ is just ‘Cat’s cradle’ under another name.
The children often play at ‘worshipping the idols.’ For a few cash they
buy a painted clay idol, about two inches high, which they carry on a
small bamboo stool, by means of two sticks. One child goes in front,
one behind, with the ends of the sticks upon their shoulders. Others
beat a tiny brass gong and carry a burning stick of incense. Then they
offer a shrimp, a small fish and some other things as a sacrifice.
In the warm weather you may be sure that the boys and girls take
a large share in the fun when their fathers and brothers send up
fire-balloons. These rise in the night sky until they look like yellow
moons floating over the city. Sometimes a balloon catches fire, flames
for a minute, and then only a falling spark shows where its ashes go
tumbling to the ground.
The Chinese have many riddles which grown people as well as children
play at guessing.
Here are some for you to try your wits upon.
“It was born in a mountain forest. It died in an earthen chamber. Its
soul dispersed to the four winds. And its bones are laid out for sale.”
“In a very small house there live five little girls.”
“On his head he has a helmet. His body is covered with armour. Kill him
and you will find no blood, open him and you will find his flesh.”
“On the outside is a stone wall. In the inside there is a small golden
lady.”
“It takes away the courage of a demon. Its sound is like that of
thunder. It frightens men so that they drop their chopsticks. When one
turns one’s head round to look at it, lo! it is all turned into smoke.”
“There are two sisters of equal size; one sits inside, the other
outside.”
[Illustration: CHILDREN AT FOOD AND AT PLAY]
“In the front are five openings; on the sides are two windows; behind
hangs an onion stalk.”
“What is it that sits very low and eats more grass than a buffalo?”
Here are the answers: Charcoal, a shoe, a shrimp, an egg, a cannon, a
looking-glass, a Chinaman’s head, a Chinese kitchen range (which is
generally heated with fern and grass).
Sometimes riddles are painted on lanterns and hung in front of a shop
for people to guess: whoever succeeds in guessing right wins a small
prize.
Chinese boys and girls have a sweet tooth. Whenever they have cash to
do so, they buy sugar-cane, peanut candy and biscuits, some of which
are flavoured with sugared kui flowers, which give them a delicious
taste. When the man who sells candied peaches and other fruit appears,
boys and girls come hopping out of the houses at the sound of his bell,
and each one hunts in his little pocket for cash, or begs a few from
his mother, to buy some favourite dainty.
The children are filled with glee whenever a feast with plays is given
at their home. They are not allowed to sit at the feast, nor are they
supposed to look on at the plays, but they have a good share of what is
going. As the unfinished dishes are carried from the tables, one after
the other, the servants and children have a feast of their own outside.
Long before the plays begin, the children watch the erection of the
stage in the court or in the street outside the house, and examine the
masks and dresses as they are taken out of their boxes and hung up
ready for use.
When the music strikes up they choose knowing corners, from which to
peep past the shoulders and over the heads of the big people. They
love to see the actors dressed like famous heroes who lived long ago,
although they cannot recognise the boys now beneath their red and
black masks, long beards and rich robes. How the music clamours and
the drums beat and the rattles clatter. Warriors shout and stamp, fine
ladies wave their fans. When fighting begins upon the stage it would be
difficult indeed to catch the boys among the crowd, to send them to bed!