The Chinese wall is marked off by two parallel lines straight across the center of the playground, leaving a space between them of about ten feet in width, which represents the wall. On each side of the wall, at a distance of from fifteen to thirty feet, a parallel line is drawn across the ground. This marks the safety point or home goal for the besiegers.
One player is chosen to defend the wall, and takes his place upon it. All of the other players stand in one of the home goals. The defender calls “Start!” when all of the players must cross the wall to the goal beyond, the defender trying to tag as many as he can as they cross; but he may not overstep the boundaries of the wall himself. All so tagged join the defender in trying to secure the rest of the players during future sorties. The game ends when all have been caught, the last player taken being defender for the next game.
This is a capital game for both children and older players, as it affords opportunity for some very brisk running and dodging, especially if the playground be wide. It differs from Hill Dill and several other games of the sort in that there is a more limited space in which the center catcher and his allies are confined.
Games for the Playground, Home, School and Gymnasium by Jessie Hubbell Bancroft