"Boys Playing Shuttlecock"

Children were a visible part of San Francisco's Chinatown. Because of the tight-knit community, children moved freely within the neighborhood, often without direct supervision. In this Arnold Genthe photograph, four boys look on as a fifth boy retrieves a shuttlecock. The shuttlecock was a small, rounded piece of leather or cork with a cone of feathers attached. In Chinese shuttlecock, or Jianzi, players try to keep the shuttlecock in the air by kicking it with their feet, similar to hacky sack.

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