China

Many of the games played in China date back to ancient times, and while some of them have detailed and complicated standard rules, others remain relatively simple, or have regional variations. Since ancient times, children have played with marbles, rattles, dolls, model soldiers, and kites. Other games such as Hide-and-Seek and the Cat's Cradle would also have played for centuries. During the Han dynasty (206 b.c.e.-220 ce.), more complicated games came to be played, and many of these were developed during the Tang dynasty (618–907) and the Song dynasty (960–1279). Many children are still involved in making large kites, sometimes as big as 16 or 18 feet across.

Although traditionally made from paper or cloth, many kites nowadays are made from plastic, and can be used to twist and soar in the wind, with competitions in which kites are made to resemble birds, dragons, and sometimes fish, ships, or wild animals.

Certainly one of the best-known games played by Chinese people has been Mahjong. While rich people had Mahjong pieces made from ivory, it was also possible to make them from bone, bamboo, or wood. Played on square tables, Mahjong sessions lasted anywhere from an hour to days, and traditionally the game has involved gambling, with people often playing for high stakes. Certainly in early modern China—and in some stories from as recently as the early 20th century—people were known to gamble all their possessions, including their house, their families, and even commit themselves to years of servitude on the outcome of a game. This led many people to become critical of the game, as [Page 133]its gambling aspects came to be seen as more important than merely the skill and luck required to win.

In the eyes of some of the public, Mahjong became associated with the corruption of the era of the warlords in the 1920s and 1930s, and it was banned by the Communist government in China from 1949, although it continued to flourish in Taiwan and among the overseas Chinese communities.