See CHAO in action

CHAO Playing Cards on video

A very unique combination of card stock and brand new varnish for unparalleled smoothness and handling.

Whats is CHAO?5 things you should know about

CHAO

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

More About CHAO

The Concept

The Chao is inspired by the lengthy span of Chinese history. Each dynasty (pronounced as "Chao" 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.

The Design

The chosen Chinese Emperors, Empresses and Generals all represent great power, wealth and wisdom, each with different traits and personalities and each dynasty holds their own trademarks to differentiate them from others. Inspired by these different elements, each Emperor features distinct clothing and accessories from their era, Empress’s have different hair pieces and holds the instrument that they played and Generals wear armor and yield the weapon used to fight in their notorious battles.

Fine intricate details are added onto each court card, allowing each individual to possess different facial features which best reflects their character.

The Chao was designed to closely follow that of a traditional deck of cards in terms of positioning including head facing direction, hand placements and the presence of weapons and artifacts.The 4 aces includes very detailed Chinese patterns.

Chinese dragon is added on the ace of spades – a symbolism of imperial power and strength.

Each suit i.e. Spades, Hearts, Clubs and Diamonds reflects one of the four chosen dynasties (Han, Tang, Ming and Qing), with a renowned Emperor, Empress and General from that dynasty representing the King, Queen and Jack.

Choosing who or what to use to represent the Jokers was not a straight forward task as we wanted these 2 very important cards to have some significant value so we chose 2 very important figures which are still looked very highly upon even up until this present day.

The Card Stock

The card stock used is the M32 linen air coupled with the highly sought after BETA finishing which was made for truly exceptional handling. The card stock is a new much lighter card stock which was specifically developed to obtain a perfect balance between the softness and stiffness needed to excel in performance such as for cardistry, magic tricks and handling.

The New Varnishing

The new varnishing was a monumental part to this project which has been in development over the past 2 years. We broke down the elements that make a great deck of cards and re-engineered it in its entirety from card stock finishing to varnishing used. Silky smooth for fans, spreads.

The Tuck Box

It completes the overall aesthetics of the deck and come in a carefully chosen choice of significant and representative colors of China, porcelain blue and vermilion red and jade green. Embossing and gold foil stamping is used to symbolize wealth and royalty.

Prototype of the sticker seal on tuck box. The text is the name of our mother company QP Group with a traditional Chinese red ink stamp design.

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Contact us

Contact us on any questions that you have on Chao deck including business and retailing enquiries.

Customizing your cards

If you would like to create your own playing cards, please get in contact with us or visit our main website at MakePlayingCards.com.