Chinese handcuffs
Woven tube toy
Chinese handcuffs are a finger trap toy—a woven tube that tightens when you pull your fingers apart and loosens when you push them together.
The trick is counterintuitive: resistance makes it worse, relaxation sets you free.
The name is fanciful rather than historically Chinese.
Also called a finger trap or Chinese finger trap.
The harder you struggle, the more stuck you get—like Chinese handcuffs.
- finger trapWoven tube binding digits
- bamboo weavingCrafting with woody grass strips
- catch-22Paradoxical no-win situation
- double bindSituation with contradictory demands
- paradoxSeemingly absurd truth
bamboo strips · tangram · lateral thinking · entrapment · novelty items · party favor · Rubik's Cube · feedback loop · escalation · unintended consequences · reverse psychology · letting go · escape room · puzzle box · brain teaser · traditional crafts · childhood games · patience