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The Chinese people use their leisure time in ways very similar to
Western lifestyles. They enjoy games and toys, fly kites,
enjoy music, and are known world wide for their puppetry
arts. As it was in other elements of Chinese culture, the wealthy
in particular were surrounded daily by beautiful objects of intricately
carved ivory, jade, and blown glass. Jump to one of the following subjects or scroll down to view all sections: Click on any image for an enlarged view |
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The Chinese have flown kites for at least 2,500 years. Kites were originally
made of wood, then silk and bamboo. After the invention of paper, it became
the favored material. According to legend, the military used kites for
reconnaissance in the second century B.C. Later, kites became objects
for pure enjoyment. The main flying season occurs from the Chinese New Year (January and February) through "Qingming" (March or April) because of favorable winds. After that, kite flying is halted due to great clouds of yellow dust that blow down from the deserts north of Beijing. |
| Paper kite - purchased on a trip to
China in the 1980s. --Artifact on loan courtesy of Herbert Hoover III, San Marino, California |
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Shadow puppetry was an ancient art, first popular in China between the
7th and 9th centuries, and revived in 1949 by the People's Republic of
China. Each region has its own style of shadow puppetry. The puppets from
Peking, for instance, are intricately carved from the bellies of donkeys
and then painted. With removable heads, a character can go through a costume
change simply by putting the head on another costume. The shadows are actually silhouettes projected onto a screen that is known as the "ying chuang" or "screen of death." In ancient times, it was believed that the heads of the puppets needed to be removed when the puppets were not in use to prevent them from coming to life without their puppeteer. |
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Shadow Puppet - man pushing a cart, Peking. No
date. |
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From ancient times, jade was the most revered stone in China, believed
to be possessed of magical properties and valued for its beauty and
indestructibility. By the Qing Dynasty, intensive specialization in
the jade workshop made it was possible for an artist to devote an entire
lifetime to the perfection of a single task. Jade is harder than most minerals, and must be abraded rather than carved. After the shape is roughly defined, it is polished with successively finer grits until the desired surface is achieved. Jadeite and nephrite are two different types of jade, also, jade is not always green-hued but is often multi-colored. Examples here attest to the mastery of the Chinese jade carver. |
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Miniature animals - carved of many different types
and colors of jade. Collected by Herbert Hoover for his granddaughter,
Lou. |
Glass bird - with a blue
breast, yellow and brown wings, green tail. Gift to Richard Nixon from the
People's Republic of China, 1972. ----Artifact on loan courtesy of the Nixon Presidential Materials Staff, College Park, Maryland |
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