Modern Shanghai Children's Entertainment World Garden (1915-1937)

With the appearance of “children’s nativism” after the New CultureMovement in May4th, children’s social statues rises gradually andpeople are more aware of the importance of children’s existence. Asfor the group of children who lived in the international metropolisShanghai, their composition and internal stratification play a decisiverole in children’s material and spiritual life. Changes taken place insocial landscape with Shanghai’s modernization will promote theemergence of a more modernized recreational life, which inevitablyled to the modernization and socialization of children’s entertainment.recreational life highlights the deep-seated character of socialdevelopment and an era’s vicissitudes. As a center where Chineseculture and western c Children’s ulture merges, Shanghai hasintegrated the traditional childrens entertainment with the westernchildrens entertainment. Under such condition, there arises a substantialalteration in children’s recreational activities. The activities transitingfrom home to society reveal the sociality of children’s entertainment,which can be seen in children’s toys and games, children’s playgrounds,children’s films, children’s newspapers and magazines. Nowadayschildren in shanghai can not only have an access to traditional toysand games, but also various new kinds of recreational facilities. As anindispensable spiritual energy for children, the contemporary children’sfilm and periodical inspired a transformation in children’s thoughts andconcepts, it also represent before us vivid images of children’srecreational activities. Those changes create a taste of modernrecreational experience for children, as well as promote children’srecreational concepts and patterns. The construction of a largenumber of public recreational facilities for children reflects that childrenare becoming more and more valued by government and society. Attentions paid to children’s spiritual life not only create a widerentertainment space for them, but also demonstrate a change inchildren’s recreational patterns, concepts and spaces. With the rapidgrowth of modern city, children will surely break the limitations of familialentertainments; rather they will step into the society in search for awilder recreational spaces and patterns.The comparing of the traditional and modern recreational activitieslively illustrate that instead of limited to the familial recreational patterns,children has begun to go out to the public places such as libraries, parksand cinemas.There is no doubt that a more prominent characteristicsof children’s social entertainments will present in the near future.