These photographs come from The Hedda Morrison Photographs of China, 1933-1946 website, a collection of photographs that provide a perspective on childhood in a period that bridges the conclusion of the Qing dynasty (1644-1911) and the rise of a new 20th-century republic in China. Morrison, a native of Germany, spent time as a resident of Beijing where she built a rich collection of photographs of daily life during the 1930s and early 1940s. Among many topics, Morrison was particularly interested in street scenes and composed photos of shops, commerce, street-side entertainments, and the daily life of local residents. Included among these are a good number of images of children. These three images focus on the street-side sale of toys, sold by adults to children and also sold by children as seen in the third image. An exploration of these images raises intriguing issues regarding some of the material objects that made up a child's daily life (or part of a special occasion) as well as the social roles attached to their production, sale, and consumption. Indeed, it would seem – unlike the patterns of toy consumption enjoyed by children in a later day – that these roles overlapped greatly.

These photographs come from The Hedda Morrison Photographs of China, 1933-1946 website, a collection of photographs that provide a perspective on childhood in a period that bridges the conclusion of the Qing dynasty (1644-1911) and the rise of a new 20th-century republic in China. Morrison, a native of Germany, spent time as a resident of Beijing where she built a rich collection of photographs of daily life during the 1930s and early 1940s. Among many topics, Morrison was particularly interested in street scenes and composed photos of shops, commerce, street-side entertainments, and the daily life of local residents. Included among these are a good number of images of children. These three images focus on the street-side sale of toys and on the children who admired and sometimes purchased the various objects. An exploration of these images raises intriguing issues regarding some of the material objects that made up a child's daily life (or part of a special occasion) as well as the social roles attached to their production, sale, and consumption. Indeed, it would seem – unlike the patterns of toy consumption enjoyed by children in a later day – that these roles overlapped greatly.

The Yin Yu Tang house provides a perspective on childhood in a period that bridges the conclusion of the Qing dynasty (1644-1911) and the rise of a new 20th-century republic in China. The house was built for a merchant family named Huang at the turn of the 19th century and, with the consent of later generations of the Huang family, would be painstakingly deconstructed, moved, and rebuilt to open in 2003 as a permanent exhibit at the Peabody Essex Museum in Massachusetts.

The museum offers a virtual tour of the house that serves as a useful tool for exploring the lived space and material culture of a family setting, as experienced by adults and also, as detail of the exhibit reveals, by children. Students may explore this virtual exhibit as if they are setting foot in the house themselves, gaining their own perspective on the domestic space that certain children experienced as well as the household objects that were dedicated to a child’s management and education.

This image offers an artistic view of a household celebrating the New Year's holiday. Here we find children at play amidst a scene of domestic joy and prosperity for an elite family of the Qing dynasty (1644-1911). The detail of the image is rich in its representation of material culture, shared domestic space, as well as visions of play and the culinary endeavor of a grand feast. We might inventory the different kinds of toys that can be seen here and consider the ways in which the children of that day imagined and made use of them. On the right side of the main outdoor courtyard, for example, we see two children at play with what seems a puppet hanging from a pole. The figure may have represented a character from a famous tale or historic play. What might children have gained from play with such kinds of figures? Notice also the contrast in this image between the many children at play and those who are also engaged in a parallel act of serving their elders (see, in particular, the figures at the table.) What might this shared imagery of play and respectful or filial service to parents have meant to those viewing the image during the Qing dynasty itself? It is helpful to consider the ways in which these specific scenes of play overlap with those representing other kinds of household relationships and roles.

Many adult voices advocated the need for a good moral upbringing as part of a rigorous education for children during the later Ming and Qing dynasties, an aspect seen in the primers that were repeatedly published during this period. Yet other realms of popular literature caught the attention of a broad class of educated elites. Here we also find rich descriptions of childhood that complicate a moralistic tone. One of the most famous novels of the period is The Story of the Stone (also known as Dream of the Red Chamber) by Cao Xueqin (d. 1763). Cao offers an extended tale of a grand family in the 18th century that focuses upon two young characters, the young heir Bao-yu and the beautiful Dai-yu, amidst a rich narrative of family intrigue, daily life, and culture. In the selection offered here, we gain a view of Bao-yu's own life as a young and poetic lad who embraces life in the quieter quarters amongst his female cousins and their maids. Here we see a vision that celebrates diverse joys and, perhaps, satirizes the staples of a proper Confucian upbringing.