My sister used to play Chinese jump rope with her friends, in Philadelphia, early 60's (she was born in 1956). I always assumed that it was no more "Chinese" than a "Chinese fire drill," but then I recently saw a movie made in China about China in the 30's (can't remember which one) and there were girls playing...Chinese jump rope. Those girls, like my sister, used rubber bands tied together. (Nobody would buy a cloth-covered something from a store when you could make the "rope" yourself, and there were so many other things to spend your fifteen cents on.) I think they cut the rubber bands before they tied them, but I wouldn't swear to that.

Aloha,
Mark