Janice,

Large sunspots can be seen directly with your eyes, especially when the Sun is viewed near the horizon at sunrise or sunset. However, let me emphasize.... you NEVER want to look at the Sun directly- even at sunrise or sunset. I can imagine those early Chinese solar observers had extensive damage to their eyes by looking directly at the Sun, but the information they provided is valuable, so we can be glad they sacrificed their eyesight in the name of science! You can read about the history of sunspot observations at:

http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/sun/activity/sunspot_history.html

Cheers,

Holly