Patriotic Fun: Toys and Mobilization in China from the Republican to the Communist Era

Boretti, Valentina

Abstract

This chapter explores the use of leisure to mobilize children in China from the 1910s to the early 1950s, in times of both war and peace. Drawing on normative advice, and commenting on youngsters’ reactions, it describes how ostensibly different regimes similarly deployed toys and play in order to foster children’s engagement in struggles of a political, commercial or military nature. It outlines how a variety of items - from so-called “educational” war toys to figurines and lanterns - could serve to rally children for the nation and familiarize war. The chapter argues that, although mobilization was construed as defensive, patriotic activism and acquaintance with the metaphorical or real battlefield were significant components of Chinese children’s upbringing from the beginning of the twentieth century.

Citation

Boretti, V. (2019). Patriotic Fun: Toys and Mobilization in China from the Republican to the Communist Era. In M. Honeck, & J. Marten (Eds.), War and Childhood in the Era of the Two World Wars (17-34). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108671965.002

• Publication Date: Feb 13, 2019
• Deposit Date: May 31, 2019
• Publicly Available Date: May 31, 2019
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Pages: 17-34
• Series Title: Publications of the German Historical Institute
• Series ISSN: 2192-0257
• Book Title: War and Childhood in the Era of the Two World Wars
• ISBN: 9781108478533
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108671965.002
• Keywords: Children, modern China, leisure, nationalism, activism, war, play, education, political mobilisation