Description

By the end of the nineteenth century, the introduction of modern educational theories into China from the West and Japan brought an ever-closer link between education and play. Education reformers and toy manufacturers began to promote educational toys considered “beneficial to the development of children’s intellect” (yizhi 益智) by enabling children to learn while playing. It is against this historical context that this paper examines why, in 1908, Shanghai Commercial Press advertised picture character-cards as “educational play items.” It provides insights into the changes in the education of children in early twentieth-century China, arguing that the flashcards produced at that time marked a turning point in Chinese pedagogy and the concept of the young child.