"Active, manly plays are not popular in the south, and instead of engaging in a cricket-match or regatta, going to a bowling-alley or fives' court, to exhibit their strength and skill, they lift beams headed with heavy stones to prove their brawn, or kick up their heels in a game of shuttlecock. The outdoor amusements of gentlemen consist in flying kites, carrying birds on perches, sauntering hand in hand through the fields, or lazily boating on the water, while pitching coppers, fighting crickets or quails, kicking a shuttlecock, snapping sticks, chucking stones or guessing the number of seeds in an orange, are plays for lads."[90]
"Children's games are always interesting. Chinese games are especially so because they are a mine hitherto unexplored. An eminent archdeacon once wrote: 'The Chinese are not much given to athletic exercises.' A well-known doctor of divinity states that, 'their sports do not require much physical exertion, nor do they often pair off, or choose sides and compete, in order to see who are the best players,' while a still more prominent writer tells us that, 'active, manly sports are not popular in the South.' Let us see whether these opinions are true."[91] And this author goes on to give a large number of games, enough to bear out his statement in the preface to his book that, "to the careful observer of these different phases it becomes apparent that the Chinese child is well supplied with methods of exercise and amusement, also that he has much in common with children of other lands."
There were numerous holidays and festivals, giving abundance of entertainment for the children. The principal time of leisure and rejoicing was at the new year. On the night of the last day of the old year everybody would remain up and at midnight a great time was begun with an incessant firing of crackers and this was kept up for a number of days. Another great time was at the Feast of Lanterns, in which was a procession of men and boys with lanterns of all shapes and sizes, the procession ending with an immense and terrible dragon, forty feet or more in length, carried aloft on bamboo poles.
Kite-flying was a national recreation, indulged in by all ages and classes. It was not an unusual thing to see an old gray-haired man enjoying it in company of a young boy. All kinds of kites were used and of all sizes. The ninth day of the ninth month, which comes in October, was "Kites' Day." On that day the men and the boys would go out to the hills and have a great time. Rank and size and age made no difference, as all entered into the zeal of the sport just the same. The greatest sport consisted in the cutting of one another's kite strings while the kites were in the air, which was done by the sawing of one string on another.
There were plenty of little shows and juggling and gymnastic feats for the children and who might wish to see them. They had Punch and Judy, trained dogs and monkeys, the whirling of plates, the tossing of knives, juggling of various kinds, sword swallowing, and many other tricks and performances.
The Chinese children had plenty of toys, which, as in all countries, were suited to the wants of that country. The toys were not greatly complicated in structure. There were rattles for the baby, dolls for the little girl, and drums and knives and tops for the boys.
"There are not many games in which boys and girls play together. If they do play together it is only while they are children, under ten or twelve. Growing-up girls will have nothing whatever to do with boys, though Chinese boys and girls are very sociable, each with friends of their own sex."[92]
Girls have plenty of games they play among themselves—"Lots of them," which Headland says was the stereotyped answer that would come from any Chinaman to almost any question he might be asked about things Chinese. Several are given but one quoted here will be sufficient to show that their games are as full of life as among girls anywhere. "This small girl after some delay took control of the party and began arranging them for a game, which she called 'going to town,' similar to one which the boys called 'pounding rice.' Two of the girls stood back to back, hooked their arms, and as one bent forward she raised the other from the ground, and thus alternating, they sang:
Up you go, down you see,
Here's a turnip for you and me;