China’s extraordinary history dates back to more than 5000 years and provides a rich collection of royal subjects which forms the basis of the Chao Playing Cards. The Imperial Yellow edition CHAO playing cards has a limited production run of 2500.

Over the lengthy span of Chinese history, each Chao (which is the pronounced word for dynasty in the Chinese language) is distinguished by the name and the impact of the individuals that ruled over that period of time. This very special and unique deck of cards pays tribute to four of the greatest and most recognized dynasties in Chinese history – Han, Tang, Ming and Qing. Each dynasty has an outstanding and reputable Emperor, Empress and General, each with their own notorious traits and fascinating stories. The CHAO depict these influential men and women that were renowned and celebrated from each of the four famous dynasties.

This is the fourth edition of the CHAO playing card deck series which takes on an imperial yellow color. Yellow is a very important and traditional color in China and back in the days of the dynasty, yellow was a forbidden color as only high-ranking officials and the Emperor’s body guards with high honor wore this color. The color represents power, royalty and prosperity which we have used in this edition of CHAO, used on the card backs and also on the tuck box where it is also embossed and imperially gold foil stamped.

To capture the essence of each dynasty, much time and resource was put into the research part of this project. The illustrations and design takes inspiration from not only the renowned rulers of the four Dynasties but also from Chinese culture itself, which is visible throughout the deck.

KickStarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/makeplayingcards/chao-imperial-yellow-ed-playing-cards-a-historical-deck