"China's Law on Control of Guns clearly stipulates it is forbidden to manufacture and sell imitation guns"

I guess that doesn't include the manufacture of plastic guns for overseas markets...

Given how popular these toy guns are with boys of all ages I never would have guessed they're illegal!

Gee, what will they sell in the gift shop at the Beijing Zoo now? Books and educational toys?

these aren't plastic toy guns they're talking about. a new fad has been popping up in china as of late, mostly among well-to-do young urbanites, of playing with "gouzi", guns that shoot plastic pellets via compressed air ala airsoft or electricity (AEGs). See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airsoft#Airsoft_guns. Teams form up locally and arrange for matches in abandoned schools, gullies, etc. usually through the internet. These guns can be very powerful, capable of leaving large welts in unpadded skin or blinding someone (and are often modified to be even more powerful with higher current or more air pressure). Do some searching over the net and you'll find plenty of sites dedicated to this sport in China. This

In the States kids used to play "Cowboys & Indians" for fun (back before the advent of Nintendo/Sega/Sony and kids became sedentary couch potatoes).

Do they play "Wujing & Tibetans" here??

Wujing? Are you sure that's not being cruel?

I live in Shenzhen and about a month and a half ago I tried to go play paintball with some friends at the Nanhai hotel. It was "temporarily closed", and we were told that all paintball facilities in China would be closed until after the Olympics!