have their heads shaved
alike and quarrel with each other until they are seven years old, the
period which brings to an end the life of the Chinese child. From this
period it is the boy or the girl.

GAMES PLAYED BY BOYS

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.

Two years ago a letter from Dr. Luther Gulick, at present connected
with the Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, N. Y., came to us while in Peking,
asking that we study into the character of Chinese children's games.
Dr. Gulick was preparing a series of lectures on the "Psychology of
Play." He desired to secure as much reliable information as possible
regarding the play-life of the children of the East, in order that he
might discover what relation exists between the games of Oriental and
those of Occidental children. By so doing he would learn the effect of
play on the mental and physical development as well as the character of
children, and through them upon the human race as a whole. We were
fortunate in having at our disposal a large number of students
connected with Peking University, the preparatory, intermediate and
primary schools, together with 150 girls in attendance at the girls'
high school.

We received the letter at four o'clock, at which time the students had
just been dismissed from school, and were taking their afternoon meal,
but at 4:30 we went to the playground, notebook in hand, called
together some of our most interesting boys, explained to them our
object, and asked them to play for us. Some one may say that this was
the worst possible thing to do, as it would make the children
self-conscious and hence unnatural--the sequel, however, will show.

At first that was exactly what happened. The children tittered, and
looked at each other in blank astonishment, then one of them walked
away and several others gathered about us. We repeated our explanation
in order to secure their interest, set their minds to work thinking up
games, and do aw