Play is a child's nature, and toys are companions that accompany children to play. Since ancient times, numerous toys of various kinds have been born. Some of these toys have been circulating to this day and are still loved by people; while others are all the rage, they have gradually disappeared in the long river of history. Those toys, which are now not well known, have been the hearts of countless ancient children...
Dove
A small cart for fun
"The Splendid Valley of Flowers" quoted Jin Zhanghua's "Natural History" and said: "Children's play at the age of five is dove-car, and seven-year-old at the age of bamboo horses." Records show that dove car is a common children's toy in ancient times. The Northern Song Dynasty's "Xuanhe Bogutu" once recorded a Hando car and a six-dynasty dove car: "The first device, the Chinese is also, and its poultry carries a son. Also. The latter device, the six dynasties, also has two ergots before and after the poultry. There is a button through the rope and a small wheel at the tail to help it. The cover system is slightly similar, but the damage is different. As you can see in the illustration, the dove cart in the Han Dynasty is a big bird carrying a small bird on the whole. There are two wheels on each side of the bird, and there are holes in the front to tie the rope. During the Six Dynasties period, the dove cart was a big bird carrying two small birds one behind the other, and a small wheel behind the bird's tail, which was more stable overall.
During the archaeological excavations, many pieces of dove carts were found, mainly made of bronze, and some were made of pottery. The unearthed dove-car era spanned from the Han Dynasty to the Western Jin Dynasty, indicating that dove-car toys were more popular during this period. When playing a dove cart, you need to use a string to pass through the small hole in the chest of the dove cart and pull the string to drive the dove cart forward. If you pull hard, the tail of the dove cart will lift; if you pull gently, the tail of the dove cart will always be on the ground. Through the size of the force, the dove car can imitate the different forms of dove birds flying and walking.
After the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the dove car was no longer popular, but it has always been the pronoun of children's games. In the Qing Dynasty Sun Zhiwei's poem "Recalling the Three Sons of Yanfuyi", he also said: "Yixi is a boy, and he has a clear hobby. He hasn't played a dove or a horse."
In the cognition of the ancients, the dove bird is a more miraculous bird. The Han dynasty will award dove sticks to people over the age of 70, as stated in "Post-Han Dynasty Book of Etiquette": "The seventies at the beginning of the year will be given king sticks and will be fed with porridge. Gift. The king stick is nine feet long and decorated with a dove. The dove is not a choking bird, but the old man is not choking." Dove also represents filial piety. Bishop." In addition, "Mao Poetry" also said, "The dove raises his son, moving from top to bottom, and evening from top to bottom, the same as average," reflecting the feeling of cuddling when the dove bird adopted the child. Therefore, the ancients made the dove car toy where the big bird carried the little bird, so that children can experience the respect for the elderly, love the young and the virtue represented by the dove bird in the play.
Mill drink
"Barbie" that was popular in the Song Dynasty
Elder Meng's "Tokyo Dream Hualu" details the lively and prosperous social scene and life scene of Bianliang, Tokyo in the Song Dynasty. There is such a description: "July Qixi, Panzi Street, outside the East Songmen Wazi, and the State West Liangmen "Waiwazi, Beimenwai, Nanzhuquewaiwaijie and Maxing Street are all selling mill drinks, which are small plastic clay ears." The popular "mill drink" mentioned here is Song Shiren A favorite "national toy".
Mo drinking music is also called Mo He Luo, Mo Mo Luo, its name comes from Sanskrit transliteration, is a clay toy. The Song people's obsession with this kind of "small plastic clay doll" toy is almost crazy. "Tokyo Dream China Record" once described that the Song people "learned to use carved wooden color railings, or use red yarn and blue cages, or decorated with gold beads and jade, there are a pair of thousands of straight, banned and your family. Shi Shu chased with the things of the time." Mo drink is richly decorated and of great value, and is enthusiastically sought after by ordinary people and emperors.
In the Southern Song Dynasty, people's love for miller was even more fanatical. The "Wulin Old Events", which describes the style of the Southern Song Dynasty, said, "Before Tanabata, Xiu Neiji entered ten tables in Mosuoluo, each table had thirty pieces, which were three feet tall. Either carved with ivory, or bergamot. The incense is made with gold carvings, beaded coats, money bracelets, pearls with rings, hair and the play tools in your hands are all seven treasures, and each is protected by a five-color gold carving gauze kitchen. Manufacturing system (kǔn, made by the Song Dynasty) The abbreviation of the Secretary), such as your ministers and the Beijing Palace, have gold castings as tributes." Mo drink not only became a tribute to the court, but also changed from clay sculptures to ivory, bergamot, and gold. Zhu Cui coats, pearl hairpin bracelets, and seven treasures are decorated in five-color gold-encrusted gauze kitchens, which can be said to be very precious.
According to the records of "Gu Su Zhi", "(Song people) Yuan Yuchang lives in Mudu, Wu County, and he is good at plasticizing and cultivating Moluo. Each pair is worth 30 yuan, and his clothing folds are brain xuan (xìn, cranial space). , Peristaltic." It can be seen that the high-end grinding drink is not a simple clay doll, but also has a movable organ. The "Mr. Drinks" recorded in "Sui Shi Guang Ji" is "fighting for ingenuity, wearing short eaves beads, wearing small wisps of gold clothes, frowning and smiling, all kinds of hands are suitable for holding hands, and a lot of attention is paid to it. People love it like crazy." This clay doll not only comes alive, but also frowns and smiles, gathers his hands and squeezes his eyes, turning his eyes to flirtatious people, attracting people to be fascinated.
In the Song Dynasty Luo Ye's "Drunken Talk", there is also a description of Mo drink: "Beijing teacher is a child of Niduobo mud, correct and delicate, the name is Mojiro in Beijing, and the price is very different. It’s also not cheap, or decorated with men’s and women’s clothes, and it is better than Chinese luxury people.” It can move freely and can be decorated with coats and jewellery. It can be seen that the play of Grind and Drink is somewhat similar to the current “Barbie”.
Scholars hold different opinions about the origin of the name of Mo drink. Some believe that it came from the Mogagaro in the Buddhist scriptures, the incarnation of the Indian Lord Shiva. Others believe that Mo drink is the Moga Luoga in the Buddhist scriptures, that is, one of the eight dragons of the dragon, and the image is the python god of the body of the snake head.
Pu Che
Advanced "car model"
"San Zi Jing" has a saying: "Xi Zhong Ni, Shi Xiang Li, Gu Sheng Xian, Shang Qin Xue." Xiang Li [tuó] said here is a seven-year-old child. According to legend, when Confucius traveled around the country, he met a child who was blocking the road, making land for a city without avoiding horses and horses. Confucius asked him why he didn't avoid it. The child replied that he only heard about the car and avoided the city. The child was Xiang Xiang. Later, Xiang Li even asked Confucius several questions, but Confucius couldn't answer them, so he had to worship him as a teacher and ask him for advice.
There is a common theme in the portrait stone of the Han Dynasty-"Confucius sees Laozi's picture", which shows the Confucius' humbly asking for advice from Laozi. Between Laozi and Confucius, a child is often drawn, he is Xiang Li. In order to show that Xiang Li is a seven-year-old child, he sometimes holds a long-handled car toy in his hand. This car is a Po car. The "Jade Candle Collection" by Du Taiqing in the Sui Dynasty cited Ji Kang's "Gao Shi Zhuan" and said: "Da Xiang protrudes with Confucius and learns from Lao Zi. Russia and Da Xiang protrudes for boys and pushes cars to puppets." .
Puche, also known as Pulun, is a car wrapped with wheels of purpurea. It was mainly used to seal Zen or recruit hermits in ancient times. It is a more advanced vehicle. For example, in the "Shi Ji Feng Chan Book": "The ancient Feng Zen is a Puche, the soil and grass of the evil mountain." Sima Zhen's "Historical Records" explains this: "It is said that the Pu wraps the wheel and the vegetation is evil." This means that when the ancient emperor made a meditation, he would wrap the wheels with cattails to prevent damage to the vegetation. "Han Shu Ji" also has: "Send the messenger to the car wheel, add the silk to the jade, and conquer Lu Shengong." Yan Shigu's comment is: "Take the wheel to get its safety." The car should also be wrapped with cattails to make the car more stable.
From the picture, there are two types of single-wheel and two-wheel toy cars, and a small number of cars have a canopy on top. Similar to the current car model, the toy poker is an imitation or simplification of the practical poker. Unlike the dove cart game, the po cart is driven with a hard long handle behind. At present, there has not been any unearthed objects of this toy poker, it is speculated that the material may be bamboo wood, so it is difficult to retain for a long time. After the Han Dynasty, the image of this toy did not appear again, and it was no longer popular around that time.
Pu Che represents the emperor's emphasis on talent, so as a toy, it also contains the good expectations of parents for children, hoping that they can be made by the emperor's conquest and make a difference. At the same time, as a kind of children's toy, Puche also has the function of symbolizing children's identity as dovecar. For example, in the epitaph of Lianyue in the Northern Wei Dynasty, there is a saying that "the amount of warmth and conscientiousness starts from Pu Che;
Promotion map
"Monopoly" board game invented by top champion
Promotional maps are also called color selection grids and official election maps, and they were mainly popular in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. According to research, the promotion map originated in the Han dynasty, and the Han Bamboo Book "Rishu" unearthed by Kong Jiapo was probably the prototype of the "promotion map".
The promotion chart during the Tang and Song Dynasties was also called the dice selection. The New Book of the South stated: "Li Peng came out of Hezhou, and he is not familiar with the Taiwan Pavilion. Therefore, he chose the dice." He was more familiar with the court institutions, so he invented the game of dice selection, which was later circulated to the Ming Dynasty and was named "Public Figure". Ru Ming Metabolism Zhao Zhe's "Five Miscellaneous Items" wrote: "Tang Lixian has dice selections, Song Liumeng and Yang Yi have color selections, that is, he is now promoted to the official map."
The props for the promotion game include maps, dice, chess pieces and chips. The map is based on the official system of each dynasty. For example, the map of the Qing Dynasty is a three-layer spiral, which consists of Baiding in the outer circle to the Taibao, Taishi, and Taifu of the Yamen Cabinet. Dice include six-sided dice and four-character top. The gyro is printed with the four characters of "moral merit", and if six-sided dice are used, numbers are used instead. When playing, throw "de", "talent" and "gong", then follow the instructions on the picture to advance, that is, promote; if you throw "stolen", you have to stay in place or retreat, that is, demote. Whoever arrives at the Taifu position first and wins the match is a victory, and can win the chips of others. It can be seen from this that the game of promotion chart is relatively close to the current board games such as flying chess and "Monopoly".
The promotion map game was quite popular in the Qing Dynasty, and evolved into various forms, such as the promotion map of the Red Chamber Dream, the promotion map of the Water Margin characters, the promotion map of the twenty-four filial pieties, the promotion map of the three heroes and the promotion map. The "Ching Ming Feng Zhi Zhi" in the late Qing dynasty records that when the New Year's goods were sold in the Beijing area, "glaze, iron wire, oil paint, sand transfer, touching silk, walking horse, kite, harmonica, playing cards, playing round chess, promotion map, Jiangmi people, Taiping drums, gourds, The glazed horns are all things that children play with. They buy everything and call it a busy year." It can be seen that the promotion plan is one of the children's toys that old Beijing must buy during the New Year. In modern times, this kind of "promotion" game gradually disappeared.
Author: Liu Jiang