Playing Card Deck

"Stick cards" or Gun Pai 棍牌. This set was sold as 金棍 Jin Gun or "golden stick" cards. This type of deck contains money cards with three suits: 1-9 of cash, 1-9 of strings (of cash) and 1-9 of myriads (of strings) (wan). It also has five additional jokers, the Five Blessings: 福 (good fortune), 祿 (promotion), 壽 (long life), 財 (wealth), 喜 (joy) as well as three extra court cards: the white flower with 林冲 Ling Chong written on the bottom, a character from the Water Margin Story. The Wang Ying card with 王英 Wang Ying at the top, also a character from the Water Margin Story. And 千万 Qian Wan, "Old Thousand". The one of cash card also has 劉唐 Liu Ting written on it which is another character from the Water Margin. The backs are orange. Faces printed in black on white. Some images colored in red, peach and green. Others with symbols painted over face of cards. Yellowed surface coating. Human figures, a ying yang symbol, and an abstract bat motif appear on various cards.

From Culin publication: "From Hankow. Four packets of thirty each and five jokers. Index marks for suits and pips and for the coat cards. The jokers are the Five Blessings, viz.: fuk, "happiness;" luk, "promotion;" shau, "long life;" hi, "joy" (i.e., posterity"), and ts'oi, wealth." The set was described on the original paper box in which it was sold as Kam kwan, "Golden kwan" (stick) cards. There are only three specimens of Old Thousand and Lam Ch'ung, "White Flower." It is not unusual to find apparent defects of this kind in Western China packs. Total, 123."