I was born within ten years of the end of WWⅡ; do you want to buy toys? When the rice was not enough for a meal every day, don't even think about it! However, our toys were better than modern toys, and most of them were DIY homemade, and all free. The only thing that costs money is the toy pistols and balloons during the Chinese New Year. Some toys are not so impressive, but some are very clear; I'll introduce as below:
▲I drew this paper tape bullet with an app. It was used for toy pistols in an earlier era, but it's challenging to find the gun nowadays.
Boys like to play with slingshots, bamboo guns, bamboo rafts, driving iron rings, flying kites, glass marbles, etc. the specials are as below:
Bamboo gun: There is bamboo everywhere in southern Taiwan. They were houses, tools, appliances, and even toys made of bamboo. The bamboo gun was one of my favorite toys; it's easy to make. Take a hollow bamboo branch, cut into about one foot long for the barrel, then cut a piece of bamboo into a chopstick shape for the trigger, the other end cut as a grip, and it is all done (Fig.). Bullets for bamboo guns are a kind of fruit called Tumizz (土密仔) in Chinese and Bridelia in Latin. (Toilet paper soaks water can be instead ) .Put a Tumizz fruit into the end of the barrel, then push it with the stick trigger; the first fruit will be pushed to the front end of the barrel, then put the next fruit in and push with the stick trigger again; the air will push the first fruit out. You'll hear a gunshot immediately, and the muzzle still smokes for a while; a lot of fun! The bullet can fly a few meters, and it'll be slightly painful but not hurt if you got shot; it's safer than the current BB guns.
▲A 100-year-old house, frame, windows, and roof were constructed of bamboo.
▲Even the wall made of bamboo slices
▲Bamboo gun
▲Bamboo gun bullets
Slingshot: We called pachinko in Taiwanese; it's might be from Japanese ぱちんこ; kids at that time used to shoot birds, honeycombs, ant nests, spiders, etc. ( but don't shoot them today ). Making a slingshot is easy too: to take a "ㄚ" shape branch, usually the branches of wild guava, acacia, or longan, and then take two rubber pieces about one foot long, traditionally cut from the inner tube of a bicycle, then tied to the ends of the Y shape with thin iron wire. The other end of the rubber is connected with leather and bound with iron wire is all done. One day, when I was in the third grade, I saw a yellow honeycomb on the longan tree, my brother and cousins took a slingshot shot them, my uncle Just passed under the tree, bees flew down to bit him, he ran and wielded with hands to escape from bees bit, and shout: [ Hoo....hole....hey....damn, kids, what are you doing here? ] we all laughed and ran away from scolding.
▲Longan also called dragon eyes
▲Slingshot
Driving hoop ring: In my childhood(1960 s), there were so many ox-carts used for carried agricultural products; most cartwheels were made of wood; the outer and inner rings were used to protect or strengthen the wood; hoop rings were taken from the inner ring, then find a thick ion wire, bend the front end into a "ㄩ" shape! When driving a hoop ring, the wire is placed against the hoop ring, and the ring rolls on the road; you can drive them went home from the school, when metals friction making sounds "kyan...kyan...kyan..." a little noisy, girls feel bored, but boys would feel fun and comfortable from heart!
▲Front ox-carts wheel
▲Iorn hoop driving
▲The four-wheeled ox-carts on the right (next) is provided by the “Pingpu Food” restaurant in Zuozhenli, Tainan City.
▲In the early mountains of southern Taiwan, the most common ox-carts for carrying crops such as sugar cane, sweet potatoes, and rice. The wheels were made of wood with iron rings.
Rubber band power raft: Made of sugar cane flower or silver-grass flower stem. 1, Take a sugar cane flower stem and cut it into several pieces about half a foot long, then cut the other two pieces longer. 2, Put stems side by side, the two longer on each side. 3. Use an iron wire or fine bamboo sticks to string steams together. 4. Put a rubber band on both sides of the longer end, then insert a 1x5 cm thin piece of bamboo into the middle of the rubber band. 5. Turn the bamboo piece to make the rubber band tighten, then put the raft on the water and release the bamboo piece; the piece rotates, and the raft goes ahead on the water to make sounds, pa, pa, pa, pa..., It is so fun!
▲Rubber band power raft
At that time, girls liked skipping rope, kicking shuttlecocks, smashing sandbags, jumping bamboo dances, etc. introduced as below:
Skipping rope: There were two kinds of playing, single and multi-playing; boys also like to play because of simple and excellent sports. The game has been handed down to nowadays, but at that time, girls played a kind of skipping rope that might not be handed down today.
Use rubber bands to string together like a rope. The game playing is as follows: Grab two ends of the rubber band string with both hands, then step the left foot on the middle of the string. The right foot wind around the rubber string clockwise one time, then steps on the ground forward, and the left foot raises simultaneously slightly, then land backward soon. The right foot raised and turned around counterclockwise, then turned clockwise again and stepped on the ground; much like an Aboriginal dance in Taiwan, boys felt bored, but girls played them after class every day.
▲Rubber band string
Shuttlecock Kicking: It is easy to make a kicking shuttlecock. Put a coin or flat stone in the middle of a small piece of cloth, then take a few chicken feathers in the middle; the hair is up; wrap the fabric, and bind with a rubber band is done. The shuttlecock kicking was usually a single kick, but other girls would go around to count together to see who played the most. If you fall to the ground, change to the next girl; some girls can play hundreds of times. In the earlier era of Taiwan, strict rules for girl's hair cuts were shorter above the earlobe as a bowl of clear soup noodles, called [清湯掛麵頭] in Chinese. I once watched girls playing shuttlecock kicking; if you are staring at the girl's hair all the time, It's one kicking, one shaking, and so on. It was so fun.
▲Two kicking shuttlecocks
▲ An earlier hairstyle for school girls in Taiwan
