What are some other traditional toys in China that are similar to Kongming lanterns?

The earliest kites were not toys, but were used for military and communication purposes. In the late Tang Dynasty, because some people added strings to the kite, when the wind blew, it made a sound like a koto, and thus the name "kite" came into being. The kites were made of thin bamboo strips as a skeleton, pasted with brightly colored paper or silk, and then painted. By the Song Dynasty, kite-flying on the Qingming Festival became one of our favorite activities.

Scented bag

Anciently, when the Dragon Boat Festival, the elders of the family with cotton, silk and other materials made of scented bags, filled with scented herbs, worn on the chest of small children or hanging in the bed, can get rid of the disease and seek blessings. And so after the Dragon Boat Festival will wear the incense bag thrown away, said to abandon the disease. So you see others on the road to throw the bag of incense, can not pick up ah.

Shadow play

Shadow play is a form of folk art in China. The Longdong shadow theater in Gansu, northwest China, is mainly distributed in Pingliang and Qingyang counties, and is more concentrated in the triangular area bordering Shaanxi and Ningxia to the east. Longdong shadow play has been very popular in the Ming and Qing Dynasties (14th-19th centuries), the shadow modeling is handsome and generous, the outer contour of the upright generalization; engraving is fine and smooth. Longdong shadow production selection of young, hair color black bullskin, this cowhide thick and thin, firm and flexible, green in the transparent. Cowhide scrape clean, dry to the net bright and transparent when you can make. First, the sample will be lightly drawn on the cowhide, and then use various types of knives or carve or chisel. Afterwards, it is colored with transparent water color, and the colors are generally not blended, so it is pure and gorgeous, with strong contrasts. Chiseling, coloring finished "out of the water" that is, ironing, which is one of the most critical and most difficult level. After the water and then dry, binding combination can be performed on stage.

Hangzhu

Hangzhu, also known as "shake buzz", is a famous folk toy. With two small bamboo sticks tied to the line, wrapped in a wooden shaft shaking, bamboo high-speed rotation and sound, as early as the end of the Ming Dynasty, Beijing's bamboo has become a spring toy, people in the hutongs, courtyards, shaking the bamboo, melodious and pleasant sound will be in the city of Beijing, up and down.

Hanging Tiger and Big Seat Lion

Hanging Tiger and Big Seat Lion are folk hangings used to ward off evil spirits, made of clay and papier-maché, in black and white and color, with many variations in the lines and strong contrasts in the colors. Some archaeologists believe that the Hanging Tiger changed from the mask in the theater, and was later hung on the door by farmers to welcome the new year and drive away ghosts.

Mud calling

Mud calling is a whistle that can be blown, it is colorful, the appearance of the oil coated, black, bright and beautiful, suitable for children to play. There are many kinds of whistles, such as bird whistles, fish whistles, pig whistles and so on.

Guizhou Huangping Mud Whistle

Terracotta Rattle Ball

Terracotta Rattle Ball is an important primitive musical instrument and the earliest sound toy. The unearthed ceramic balls are ceramic spheres, hollow in the center, filled with marbles or grains of sand, which rattle when shaken.

Nine linked rings

Originally from the ancient folk, in the Qing Dynasty, women and children like to play nine linked rings. Nine linked rings are considered abroad as one of the most ingenious toys invented by mankind, and its mystery is the ingenuity and complexity of the method of opening and unlocking.

The rattle

The rattle was originally an ancient musical instrument, but later lost its musical role and became a toy for children. The rattle is a small drum that is played by a small ball tied to the sides. Various regions of the rattle drum shape, there are as long as the waist drum, there are flat like a drum, there are four drums superimposed, the sound of high and low, loud and pleasant.

Shanxi Fabric Toys

Beating Waist Drums

Torch

The Undeclining Womb

Sling Shot

Kaleidoscope

Blowing Sugar Man

Chicken's Nest (Beijing)

Mud Rooster in Hebei New City

The Spinning Wooden Dolls (Tancheng, Shandong Province)

Carved Flower Gourd (Gansu) )

White glaze painted ceramic cat (Yuncheng, Shanxi)

Water bucket (Wuxi, Jiangsu)

One of the folk toys: seasonal toys

1. Folk seasonal toys

Chinese is a traditional agricultural country, over the past thousands of years, agriculture has always been the basis of the country, so the seasons of the agricultural season is very much valued, and they are carried through the life of people. They have been carried out throughout people's lives and have formed relatively fixed seasonal folklore. In a variety of seasonal folk activities, are not without the participation of folk toys. Now in chronological order:

Spring Festival: is the most lively annual festival, a variety of folk toys in the New Year nearly a month before the start of sales. The Spring Festival temple fair is the most concentrated folk toys on sale. In the traditional temple fair in Beijing, there are nearly 100 kinds of common traditional toys, such as windmills, lanterns, firecrackers, gyroscopes, wood chipping toys, kites and clay figurines, paper flowers, educational toys and so on.

February 2: Henan People's Ancestral Temple will sell "mud dog" all kinds of clay toys.

Lichun: folk spring chicken (mostly cloth and clay whistle), spring cow (pinch clay toys).

Ching Ming: Kite flying. Cold Food Festival (Originally, it was held on the first or second day before Qingming. Later, it was combined with the Qingming Festival, a festival of tomb-sweeping and rituals, into one). : In the north, there is the noodle sculpture "Cold Swallow".

Duanwu (Dragon Boat) Festival (the fifth day of the fifth month of the lunar calendar): Various kinds of fragrant packets.

Seventh Night: July 7, "Beggar's Day," when clay toys such as "mohelo" were sold in Song Dynasty capitals.

July 15: The custom of giving "noodles to goats" is common in the Yellow River Valley in the north.

August 15: During the Mid-Autumn Festival, mooncake and fruit molds were used to make mooncakes and snacks.

Toys such as "Rabbit Master" and "Rabbit King" are made of clay in Beijing and Nanjing.

October to the end of the year: Preparations for New Year's goods, including toys, begin.

Folk Toys No. 2: Life Ritual Toys

People go through life rituals at all stages of their lives, from birth to death, and even when people are not yet born, women start "begging for children". The art of toys accompanies this series of life rituals from birth to the full moon and the first birthday, to adulthood, love and marriage, birthday celebrations, and funerals.

1. Begging for children: Women who wish to have children go to local temples, such as the Niangniang Temple, to burn incense and buy clay toys, such as "big brothers" or "clay dogs", which symbolize an heir.

2. Childbirth and full moon: This is an important stage in the beginning of life. When a child is born, friends and relatives send gifts, and grandmothers and grandmothers are even busier, and the most important of these gifts are the child's daily necessities and toys, such as children's clothes, children's shoes, cloth tigers, children's pillows and so on.

3, weeks of age: this is an important moment in the child's development, Chinese folk from the south to the north of the custom of "catching weeks", let the child to grasp the objects placed around them at will, which are many children's toys.

4, growth gift: children in the process of growing up, can play with a lot of toys, and even used to suppress the soul of the stone lions have become a child's toys. Goat crutches, cloth dolls, cloth pockets, turn flowers, chain toys, pottery molds and so on are children can not leave the playthings. In some places, when the child reaches 12 years old, the ceremony is held to show that the child has grown into an adult.

5. Marriage: On their wedding day, newlyweds are presented with a large number of gifts, and anxious relatives and friends send children's items and toys to express their wishes for the newlyweds to have a child soon. Among them, cloth monkeys and cloth tigers are the most common; a pair of male and female cloth monkeys serves as a hint for the marriage of a man and a woman. Other decorations, such as face molds, are even more rare.

6, funeral: as early as in prehistoric times in the primitive burial, there has been a toy with the custom of burial. Later evolved into a funeral, people send face molding (northern) and paper tie people, which is for "happy funeral" family prepared things, Shanxi still have for the end of life in the coffin placed in the paper clay made of "longevity male, longevity mother" dolls of the custom. If a person dies a violent death, a theater troupe is invited to perform a shadow play to invoke his or her soul.

7. In a person's life, childhood is the main time to use toys, and toys are mainly made for children, but these toys, which are made by adult hands, also accompany adults and the elderly.

Folk Toys No.3: Daily Life Game and Entertainment Toys

In people's daily life, especially children's life, toys are everywhere. Playing activities are the place to show the role and style of toys. Sports activities such as Cuju from ancient times, soccer, shuttlecock and rope skipping, as well as children's games such as "Playing House" (a game that imitates adult production and labor, with children playing different roles), "Riding Bamboo Horses" (a children's game that involves using a bamboo pole as a horse and riding it on one's hip, and the Chinese idiom of "Green Plum Blossoms and Bamboo Horses" describes the friendship between two young children) are all prevalent in different places. The idiom "青梅竹马" describes the friendship between two small children), "Begging for Handicrafts Festival" (every year on the eve of the seventh day of the seventh month, which is traditionally the "Daughter's Festival", little girls have to worship the moon and listen to the adults tell the story of the "Cowherd and the Weaving Maiden", begging for the chance to be as skillful as the Weaving Maiden), "Throwing Handkerchiefs", "Gala-ha" (i.e., the "Sheep Cradle", the jointed bone of a goat), "Jumping on Ribbons", "Puzzles", and " Playing war" (a collective game in which young boys imitate fighting, and small weapons are the main props of this game), jumping lattice (also called hopscotch), swinging and so on are all occasions when folk toys are used.

Everyday home life is also a place where toys are displayed, and various toys bought from the temple fair are placed in the home - clay and ceramic statues of gods and goddesses, big ah, bolted to the dolls are enshrined in the main hall. The walls are plastered with New Year's paintings, and old people play the old "Water Margin Leaf Game" (a card game with decorative designs of Water Margin characters) and chain toys, all of which seem to be an idyllic pastoral song of relaxation.