Taiwanese Children’s Various Tag Games:
“Traffic Light”, “Big White Shark”, “Zombie Tag”, “Hide-and-seek Tag”
Informant: Myself
Taipei, Taiwan
2008
Informant Data:
Timothy Yang was born in San Jose, California, on January 6, 1999. He was brought to Taipei, Taiwan, and raised there until he was fourteen when he moved to Houston Texas to attend a public high school. Even though he is a dual-citizen, he grew up in Taiwan, in which most of his family speaks Mandarin and Taiwanese. He attended Taiwanese public elementary school during day time and studied English after school in a different academy. Throughout his childhood, his family took him on several trips abroad. Tim’s background is Taiwanese Chinese. Both his parents were born and raised in Taiwan, their roots tracing back to the first Chinese who settled in Taiwan from China. His family used to go to a Christian church on a weekly basis when he was young, however, he describes himself as a person of faith and doesn’t subscribe to any traditional form of religion. Tim is single and is a senior at Dartmouth College studying computer science.
Contextual Data:
Tim attended his public elementary school called Guang Fu Elementary in Taipei, Taiwan back in 2005-2012. He lived with his family of five. His older brother who is two years older attended the same elementary school he does. Throughout his elementary school years, he learned different forms of playing tag as breaktime past time with his classmates. The playing group usually consists of about 15-20 kids, usually from the same classroom. To put more context, the public elementary schools in Taiwan operate differently than American ones: the elementary school years were six years in Taiwan; every two years the students switch classes and learn with different groups of peers. Every year their classroom switches to a new location, allowing easy access to different parts and playgrounds of the big elementary school. The elementary school he attended has a population of about 3000 students at the time, with each year having around 500 students, and each class has about 30 students. Usually, the 30 students in his class all become best friends with each other, and the playing group usually comes from the same 30 students. Each year, Tim participates in playing Tag with his classmates during recess, which was 10 minutes for every 50 minutes of class time. Every day there are usually about 6 recesses in which students run out of their classrooms to play in the huge playgrounds, separated by buildings of classrooms. (There are three playgrounds and one gigantic field ground in his elementary school, each of them is usually accessed by children from different grades. The younger kids usually play in the smaller playground surrounded by gardens and ponds. The middle-grade kids usually play in the mid-sized playgrounds that have many playing facilities like slides/stairs/ladders. The older kids usually play in the gigantic field ground.) Tag is one of the most popular games among the kids. With so many short recess times, different forms of tags evolved and are played by kids from different age groups. Tim was fond of playing tag with his classmates as a child. He enjoyed the feeling of the adrenaline rush, the sense of joy when running around being chased by the “it”, and being the “it” himself. He’d usually play it every break time unless the weather was raining or he had something else preoccupying him. The weather in Taiwan is usually very warm/hot, but this usually doesn’t deter him nor his classmates. Often, due to running around so much, the kids would end up sweating a lot and making them uncomfortable during class, in classrooms that usually don’t have AC installed (only fans). Regardless, it was a very fun pastime that unites the classmates, boys and girls alike. Almost all kids enjoy the games, the ones who don’t enjoy the games are not looked down upon, they simply are forgotten and they just spend their time in the classrooms. The game rules are passed down from older grade kids. If one’s unfamiliar with the rules, one would either have to have some friends to explain it to them or to figure it out themselves.
Item:
Standard: The most basic form of playing tag that was played by Tim’s classmates revolves around one kid being the “it”, and they (gender-neutral pronoun) must chase around other classmates and try to tag others in order for them to relieve themselves of their duty of being the “it”. In Mandarin, which was the language Tim used to play it in, the “it” is literally translated as “guay”, or ghost/monster in translation. The “tag game” is called “guay zhua ren”, or translated word by word, “monster catch person”. The monster would usually say “zhua”, or catch, when they successfully tag another person. Usually a simple rule of not being able to “reverse tag” is implemented (the idea of tagging back at the person that made you the ghost) – in Mandarin, the kids would say: “no reverse tagging!” or, “bu nen fan zhua!”. This rule is implemented so that the newly made monster wouldn’t attempt to tag the closest person next to him or her, and allowing everyone to get the chance to be the monster. Usually, the monster catches/tags their victim within 30 to 90 seconds – by running around and chasing others – allowing the game to continue and allowing everyone to have fun. Usually, during any one break time (10 minutes), 6-12 kids would have taken turns to be the monster.
Traffic Light Tag: Another form of tag that Tim played has evolved from “guay zhua ren”, though; and often, the kids would switch from one game to another as to add flexibility and interest. One of which is called “hong lu deng”, or literally, “traffic light”. The traffic light form of tag isn’t great for the kid being the monster, for that it’s more difficult to tag anyone due to the fact that the victims being chased may stand still/not move, gesture a “T” sign with their hands and shout “hong deng” or “red light” to inform the monster that he or she is unable to be caught because they have signaled the red sign. The monster then must chase another victim if they want to get rid of their monster title. However, if the monster is smart, the monster would pretend that they are going for another victim while keeping an eye on the people who have signaled the red light, for that the free kids may come at any time to “free” the red-lighted kids, who’s not able to move. To free the kids have signaled red light, one must be in “green light” and touch the red-lighted kids. By the way, touching and tagging usually mean any form of body contact (it’s usually shoulder/waist/hands), and touching the clothing usually counts. The monster may wait around to catch the green-light kids who are trying to save the red-lighted kids. If by the end of one round and everyone’s signaled red lights, the monster wins, and the monster becomes the last person who signaled the red light.
Big White Shark Tag: Yet another form of tag that Tim used to play a lot is called “da bai sha”, or “Big White Shark”. The monster in this game is then the shark, and the kid who’s the shark may only wander around the lower levels of a playground facility, while everyone else stays on the top of the playground facility. By playground facility, it’s meant to describe the playing structures in which commonly dots playgrounds. There were some large ones in Tim’s elementary school, and one large one would typically be chosen to play the Big White Shark in. These playing structures may contain multiple ladders, slides, climbing facilities, platforms, and steps that vary in height. The shark’s goal is to touch someone’s feet or leg from down under, while everyone else is a victim on a sinking boat.
Zombie Tag: Yet another form of tag is called “jiang shi” or “zombies”. As could be imagined, this form of tag starts with just one monster or zombie, and whoever the zombie touches become allies to the zombie, and they must do their best to corner other living persons and turn everyone to zombies. The last survivor, while being the winner, is the next game’s starting zombie.
Hide-and-seek Tag: One last form of tag that was typically played by upperclassmen is called “xiao yuen guay zhua ren”, or “campus-wide tag/hide-and-seek tag”. This type of game is usually played during times in the day where there are fewer kids at school – younger kids leave school earlier in the day –, so that the group may play this game all over the campus. Akin to the zombie game, every person the monster tagged becomes allies to the monster, and will help to spread out to all corners of the campus to catch all the remaining players, who may be hiding in any corner. If by the end of the break period and there are still survivors, they become the winners of the game and are celebrated. On the other hand, if the zombies catch all players, then everyone will just laugh it off and had enjoyed a good time.
Usually, a game of tag is played by the same classmate group, however, if one’s classmate group isn’t playing (which can be due to their classroom being too far from the playgrounds), one can always ask to get involved in another classmate group’s tag game. Usually, the new kid would be volunteered to be the starting monster for everyone to be familiar with him or her or them (not assuming gender). The kids play tag for a number of reasons. First, to make deeper bonds with their classmates through running after one another and assimilating through doing what others seem to enjoy doing. Second, to use up energy that the hyper kids usually have plenty of during the day. Third, to entertain themselves by playing the games and testing their physical strengths and strategic minds.
Timothy Yang
31 N. Main Street
Hanover, New Hampshire
Dartmouth College
Russian 13 Fall 2020