BEIJING, May 6 -- Once upon a time, there were no video and computer games, no crushing burden of homework. Kids amused themselves in longtang (lanes) and played wonderful low-tech games with cards, beanbags, sandbags and iron hoops, writes Pan Xiaoyi.

    What the cherished but vanishing hutong (alleyways) are to Beijing, the longtang (residential lanes) are to Shanghai. The distinctive, slice-of-life longtang was emblematic of Shanghai from the 1850s to the 1950s.

    The lanes, filled with children playing "lane games," were like the city's calling card. And for kids, cards were abundant and played a big part in their free time.

    Very popular games included blowing or throwing cards, utilizing the air currents, and collecting sets of cards depicting Chinese epic heroes.

    These were not regular playing cards and card games. These cards that were blown, thrown, flipped, tossed, collected and traded were very special. They were beautifully decorated with characters from Chinese classics like "A Dream of Red Mansions," "Romance of Three Kingdoms" and "The Water Margin." Some sets had 100-character cards with intricate paintings; some characters were rare.

    Today, most of those narrow lanes are gone, the old-fashioned games are gone and the intricately drawn and colored cards (initially part of cigarette promotions) are collectors' items. Kids' leisure time is virtually gone as they study, study, study and even learn sports for self-improvement.

    There was something special about those lanes and the simpler carefree days that made those games possible. Many older people are nostalgic for the crowded longtang life when families lived shoulder-to-shoulder on the same narrow street and children didn't need technology or basketball courts to amuse themselves.

    Those born in the 1990s and later seldom play lane games. Tastes have changed. Children have heard about lane games from their parents, but those old pastimes sound boring.

    Some schools tried to revive these games with competitions and put the games into regular PE lessons. Students showed little interest.

    "I would play games like hoop running in the class, but I am not keen on it," says 12-year-old Fan Yifei from Beijiao Middle School. His parents have high expectations and require him to learn chess, violin and martial arts. "I have little time to play. If I do, I will play PlayStation Portable or basketball."

    So much for the present and future prospects. Let's take a look back at lane games, including blowing cards, running hoops, tossing beanbags and sandbags, and what they say about old times - and ourselves today.

    Reng xiangyan paizi literally means "throwing" cards, but most people use the word "blowing" because it more accurately describes the game. A card, smaller and lighter than a numbered playing card, would be placed on the ground. A boy (this was played almost exclusively by boys) would slap the ground next to the card, trying to create a tiny air current that would flip it over. Not as easy as it sounds. Technique and tactical assessment of a breeze were important. Sometimes cards were bent to catch a draft.

    If it flipped, a child won - maybe that card or other collectible cards. Kids made up their own rules: Blow the card and you win two "warrior" cards, for example.

    "Nowadays, children rarely know about card throwing, but it was my favorite way to kill time when I was bored or depressed," says Frank Lin, a Shanghai native in his 50s. He grew up in old lane houses in northeastern Hongkou District.

    Being simple and not requiring much space, the game was very popular in close quarters.

    "It was not complicated at all. Hit the ground and the winner takes all," says Lin, operations manager of a photography equipment company. "After class, we gathered in the long narrow lane and anywhere could be the battlefield."    

    Today's modern residential areas with wide-open space for organized activities are not conducive to throwing cards, he says. "It just doesn't feel right to throw the cards there."

    The old days were different. "Time flew until we were called back to dinner. We ended up with just cards as our trophies, but we really had fun," says Lin.

    That was long before PC games, GameBoy and Lego. Even TV and radio were luxuries and not must-haves for kids. Simple was good.

    "The teachers were quite opposed to the card games," says Lin, adding that they considered it like gambling. "Whoever was caught would be deprived of all the cards, but there were few boys who didn't throw cards at all. Even the role models were keen on it."

    After all, there was not as much homework as today, so parents in those days just let their children enjoy themselves.

    These cards came into being as a cigarette promotion, like old-time toys or charms in breakfast cereal or Cracker Jack boxes in the United States. Manufacturers produced exquisite cards half the size of the cigarette pack as freebies for buying the cigarettes. They later were produced in sets, as collectibles. Not only the classics, but also cartoon characters and pop singers were featured.

    It was like collecting baseball cards. Kids who collected the entire set of figures from a tale would get a cash prize from retailers. So they were motivated to trade or "blow" duplicates to get missing cards and assemble a whole set.

    However fierce the competition, it was great fun and boys would do almost anything to join their pals.

    Lin's parents once locked him in his room over a holiday. "It was really torture. I couldn't bear the days without throwing the cards with other kids." But he had a set of keys.    

    "So I threw keys from the window. They rescued me from 'prison' to join their battle (when my parents were out). Afterward, I went back and they locked the door on me again without my parents knowing," Lin recalls with pleasure.

    The kids tossed the keys back to him through the window.    

    (Source: Shanghai Daily)