Children today have some effective ways of lobbying their parents for a trip to a toy store. Once there, their powers of persuasion are such that they can usually bring home a selection of state-of-the-art products. For those who were born several decades ago, however, it was a very different scene. There were no big toy stores. Even if there had been, parents would not have had the time for shopping or money to spend on toys. “We made our own toys, with whatever materials we could find,” says Chang Shih-tsung (張世宗), a professor at National Taipei University of Education’s Master Program in Toy and Game Design. Chang, who was born in 1951, explains that his childhood, and that of earlier generations of Taiwanese children who grew up in a predominantly agricultural society, came before plastic and battery-powered toys started to dominate the market.
Chang collects and researches folk toys, and notes that Taiwan’s folk toys have been influenced by several cultures. “If an extraterrestrial being wanted to collect samples of the human race, it should probably go to New York City,” Chang says. “If it’s after samples of folk toys, Taiwan is the place to go.” For instance, many of the toys portrayed by Song dynasty (960–1279) painter Su Han-chen (蘇漢臣, 1094–1172) in his work Children Playing in an Autumn Garden are still seen in Taiwan. The kendama, known in Taiwan as the “sun moon ball,” was brought here by the Japanese. The toy consists of two wooden cups on opposite sides of a wooden handle, the top of which is a spike and the bottom another cup. A ball is connected to the handle by a string, and also has a hole drilled into it. The player tosses the ball upward, then tries to catch it in one of the cups or on the spike at the end.
Whatever the country of origin, folk toys start as homemade items created from materials found in nature or around the house. The most common materials children in agricultural Taiwan had access to were bamboo, wood, grass and the like. Some of these materials can provide a lot of fun in their natural state. A common game for children, for example, involved trying to find the strongest clover. After peeling the stem to a mere thread, a player interlocked the clover leaves with another’s and “wrestled” the plants until one stem broke.
Simple modifications to everyday objects could also work wonders. A small block of wood, for instance, could easily be shaped into a spinning top. By drilling a few holes into a section of bamboo, one could create an “air gun” that fired small stones or seeds. Attaching a small, thin bamboo propeller on top of a stick made a “bamboo dragonfly” that could fly like a helicopter by giving the stick a hard spin between two hands. In fact, a similar toy could be made with two dried mango seeds, a string and a stick. “Nothing was useless,” Chang says. “It was just a matter of working out how it could be used.”
Some old toys are regaining their popularity. Taiwanese diabolo artists, from left, Lin Wei-liang, Patty Liao and Lin Zong-ying, recently joined renowned performance troupe Cirque du Soleil. (Photo by Central News Agency)
Metal objects were harder to come by, but children always managed to have fun with whatever they found. The iron rings used to fasten wooden barrels were a common toy, as racing each other while rolling the rings with a stick added a lot of fun to a straightforward running race. By flattening bottle caps, children made their own “battle cards,” a game in which the players attempt to use their cards to hit and flip over an opponent’s card. Such battle cards were later commercially produced in cardboard. Printed with images of cartoons or puppets, Chinese chess or paper-scissors-stone symbols, the cards were collected and traded like baseball cards.
A number of the traditional toys survive today. While their main purpose is to provide entertainment, many of them also help train a child’s hand-eye coordination, while others help develop critical thinking. A better known example of such toys is a tangram puzzle, which consists of seven flat shapes that can form thousands of figures. Another is the Chinese rings, a toy in which a player tries to separate the rings from two parallel bars.
The laws of physics, mechanics or other branches of science are always behind making or playing with toys, yet children have always been able to fly a kite, say, without any formal knowledge of aerodynamics. Since the 1960s, however, many of these folk toys have been replaced by those made of synthetic materials or powered by batteries, and more recently those equipped with microchips. Nevertheless, it seems that certain folk toys have been regaining some of their former popularity. There are a few more collectors, a few more reproductions on the market and a few more players. Diabolos, or Chinese yo-yos, for example, have become popular in some schools. Three young Taiwanese diabolo artists were recently invited to join the internationally renowned Canadian performing troupe Cirque du Soleil.
There are also enthusiasts who have begun to focus on promoting the educational aspects of many of Taiwan’s folk toys. The movement is focused on helping children learn through playing, and giving them the ability that enabled children a few decades ago to create their own toys with whatever materials they could find. “It’s not just about promoting traditional toys, but also about the toy-making tradition,” Chang says.
Spinning tops are one of the oldest toys in human history and have also been used for gambling and prophecy. While they share the same basic shape, small differences are apparent for tops from different times and places. In Taiwan, sharp metal tips were added, with the victor allowed to throw the winning toy to try to break the loser’s. (Photo by Chang Shih-tsung, Edutainment Technology International Group)
The kendama, known in Taiwan as the sun moon ball, was introduced by the Japanese. The player tosses the ball upward and tries to catch it with one of the four ends. (Photo by Chang Shih-tsung, Edutainment Technology International Group)
Children used to make their own toys with whatever they could find. This little “bug” woven from bamboo strips can “jump” when the tail is pushed. (Photo by Chang Shih-tsung, Edutainment Technology International Group)
Metal rings used to fasten wooden barrels were one of the more accessible metal toys in the past. Rolling the ring might seem easy, but actually takes some practice to be good enough for a race. (Photo by Chang Shih-tsung, Edutainment Technology International Group)
Shuttlecock kicking is a traditional game in which players try to keep a shuttlecock in the air by using their feet and other parts of the body except for the hands. (Photo by Chang Shih-tsung, Edutainment Technology International Group)
It is said that the tangram puzzle originated from a Song dynasty furniture design, in which a set of tea tables could be arranged to form different shapes for various uses. (Photo by Chang Shih-tsung, Edutainment Technology International Group)
A type of spinning top known as a hollow bamboo. The difference from normal tops is that the hollowed-out body and side opening of this toy allow it to whistle while spinning. (Photo by Chang Shih-tsung, Edutainment Technology International Group)
Play with the Chinese ring was documented as far back as 2,500 years ago. While the game sounds simple—one must separate the nine rings from the two parallel bars—it is not so in practice. Some say it takes a minimum of 241 steps in a specific sequence to complete. (Photo by Chang Shih-tsung, Edutainment Technology International Group)
Write to Jim Hwang at cyhuang03@mofa.gov.tw