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Playthings (), also known as Little Toys or Small Toys, is a 1933 silent film directed by filmmaker Sun Yu. It is one of two films Sun Yu directed in 1933. (the other film being Daybreak). This film was released on October 10th, which is on the eve of National Day and before WWII. Sun Yu is also famously known for the films Wild Rose (1932) and Daybreak (1933). The film stars popular Chinese actress Ruan Lingyu, and was produced by the leftist film production company Lianhua Film Company. The film contains the elements of drama, melodrama, war, westernization, motherhood and sacrifice. The story follows a village toy-maker, Sister Ye, who urges a group of villagers to continue making traditional playthings despite immense competition from foreign toy factories. Synonymous to many other films made during the same time period, Playthings is a patriotic propaganda film that expresses skepticism towards China's rapid urbanization and industrialization.
Made after Japan's invasion of China, Little Toys is a "Marxist war melodrama, containing strong nationalist sentiment yet reflecting Western influences." Today, the film is recognized as one of the best Chinese films of the 20th century.
Old Ye dies suddenly on a slaed trip, and amid the ensuing confusion Yu'er is kidnapped and sold to a wealthy family in Shanghai. Soon after, fighting between rival warlords engulfs the region, the village is burned, and the surviving toy-makers flee to the city. Determined to preserve their craft, Sister Ye organizes a street-corner collective that ekes out a living producing hand-made patriotic trinkets.
Ten years pass. With Japanese pressure on Shanghai mounting, Zhu'er– now an accomplished designer– volunteers to supply toys and comfort items to Nationalist soldiers. She is killed during a bombing raid, a loss that steals Sister Ye's resolve to defend Chinese culture.
On Chinese New Year's Eve the destitute Sister Ye sits on Nanjing Road selling her remaining toys. A young boy, unaware that he is Yu'er, buys a rattle from her. Firecrackers erupt nearby and sister Ye, mistaking them for bombs, runs into the street warning onlookers of the Japanese threat. Her impassioned cries– "Don't forget your own country's toy!" –stirs the crowd, closing the film on a patriotic note.
The film was made during a time of national exigency. Following the Mukden Incident on September 18, 1931, the Japanese army staged a bombing of a Manchurian railway and blamed it on Chinese troops to create a pretext for an invasion by military forces. This marked the beginning of the Japanese occupation of Northeast China and heightened tensions between the two countries. The condition deteriorated further in 1932 with the January 28 Incident, during which Japanese troops shelled Shanghai as a reprisal against growing anti-Japanese activism. Under such political conditions, ''Playthings'' was a novel filled with patriotic zeal and anti-imperialist indignation.
The movie also captures cultural concerns that originated from the New Culture Movement of the 1910s and 1920s, which reexamined conventional practices pertaining to education and childhood. At this time, toys became more regarded as a means of developing healthy, modern citizens. Foreignly produced or oddly shaped toys tended to be perceived as morally tainted or culturally foreign.Fernsebner, Susan R. "A People's Playthings: Toys, Childhood, and Chinese Identity, 1909-1933." Postcolonial Studies 6, no. 3 (2003): 269-293.
They filmed in late spring of 1933 and premiered the film on October 10th, the eve of China's National Day. The release date symbolically linked the film to national resistance and communal sacrifice, commemorating victims of recent wars.
The handcrafted toys carry deep symbolic resonance. For Sister Ye, who has dedicated much of her life to their creation, the toys signify family sustenance, community livelihood, and pride in Chinese craftsmanship. According to Fernsebner, "despite its grim and desperate ending, 'Little Playthings' provided some essential tools for the job: a nostalgic sense of Chinese community and cultural identity located in this object, the toy, as well as an implicit, simultaneous critique of both the 'old society' and the Western forces (industrial and imperialist) which imperiled the Chinese nation." Despite the bleak conclusion, Little Toys provides audiences with nostalgia for communal and cultural coherence through these toys while simultaneously critiquing both China's "old society" and foreign industrial-imperialist forces that threaten national integrity. Additionally, Sister Ye's children embody the devastating human cost of social turmoil: her kidnapped son, symbolizing youth alienation due to upheaval and foreign influence, is disconnected emotionally from his mother. Their estrangement underscores the destructive impact of war and modernization on familial continuity. This recurring motif of lost or orphaned children was common in 1930s Chinese leftist cinema, reinforcing the film's critical examination of social conditions. Ultimately, Little Toys employs potent symbolism: traditional toys representing cultural memory and innocence, and the fragmented Ye family mirroring a nation disrupted by conflict.
This film, among others produced by the Lianhua film company, is viewed by scholars as a significant component of the leftist film movement; notable for their focus on class struggle, nationalism, and the interplay between masculinity and femininity.Pang, Laikwan (2002) Building a New China in Cinema: The Chinese Left-Wing Cinema Movement, 1932-1937. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
In 2005, the Hong Kong Film Awards ranked Playthings 70th overall on their list of best films within "the past 100 years of Chinese cinema."
Chan's score combines both Western instruments, like the piano or cello, and traditional Chinese instruments, like the erhu and the gaohu. The 2007 production was staged in the Shanghai Concert Hall on November 2, 2007.
In 2012, Playthings was featured at the San Francisco Silent Film Festival, highlighting its enduring appeal and historical importance to international audiences.
An English-subtitled copy of the film uploaded by the Chinese Film Classics Project is available for public viewing on YouTube.
Music
Playthings is a silent film. In 2003, Singapore composer Mark Chan, in a project co-commissioned by the Hong Kong Arts Festival and the Singapore Arts Festival, scored the silent film, and productions were staged in each country, featuring live music accompanying a screening of the film. The production was again re-staged in Copenhagen in 2005 and in the Shanghai International Arts Festival in 2007. News soundtracks created for silent films can play a key role in helping contemporary audiences understand social phenomena that are no longer common in today's society. Xiaoduo, Guo (2011). "Silent film music composition in a cross-cultural context. University of Adelaide". p. 31.
English translations
Devoid of context, the original title of the film (Chinese: 小玩意; Pinyin: Xiǎo wányì) translates to English as "little things." The leading English title – Playthings – is a more ontologically inductive conceptualization of the word "play".Sicart, M. (2021). "Playthings." Games and Culture, 155541202110203. doi:10.1177/15554120211020380 This is reflective of the developmental role such devices serve in childhood upbringing and the formation of national identity. In contemporary analyses of the film, the toys themselves facilitate "a nostalgic sense of Chinese community" in addition to serving as the backdrop for the antagonistic relationship between "'old society' and Western forces." The title “Playthings” also carries a metaphor symbolizing fragility, such as that of the workers who make them and the children who play it. Toys, as part of the economy, connect to the worker’s livelihoods; they are both tools for play and for work. Rea, Christopher (2021). Chinese Film Classics, 1922-1949. Columbia University Press. p. 40.
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