Old toys, old games

Author: Liang Meng
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2002-03-01
Features: The selection of this book is not intended to merely pile up folkloric materials or provide a cold, descriptive account of past things. The articles included are filled with emotion, philosophy, and life, and more importantly— they are imbued with the rich and delicate, passionate, and intoxicated life experiences and wisdom of someone who plunges their hands into the soil, wades in flowing water, listens to the movements of all things, observes the changes of the earth, and fully senses the breath of life in the universe. These invaluable life experiences, attitudes, and emotional wisdom are seemingly more beneficial for the survival and continuation of human life, enabling human nature to become healthier, more relaxed, and more complete. "Poeticity" is their overall and primary characteristic, and the activities and engagement of individual lives in nature are the infinite sources of this poetry. In contrast, modern urban dwellers who reside in concrete cages, their life functions are increasingly degenerating through excessive indulgence, their sensitivity is becoming more dull, their joy of life is increasingly dependent on external stimuli rather than originating from the natural life within, becoming more fleeting and superficial, and the ability to elevate and purify life through intoxication and tremor is becoming rarer and harder to emerge. Regardless, the development of modern society is increasingly moving away from emotional and spiritual aspects, and is increasingly dominated by a materialized process controlled by intellect. Precisely because of this, the "handcraft," "flavors," "games," and "rules" preserved in this book from past eras are particularly worth cherishing and remembering. Perhaps, they will become constituent elements of a well-rounded human nature on another spiral upward in history, and once again be acquired by human life. The content of this book primarily consists of essays introducing old toys and games from past times. It includes multiple essays on topics such as playing with clay, building sandcastles, making snowmen, paper crafts, dolls and picture books, bamboo flutes and willow whistles, and playing house.