The Chattering of The Sparrows.

Chinese characters for 
Mah Jong

Baltimore seniors at play.

 I wrote about Mah Jong several years ago in my Bruges blog but as I am now playing twice a week with two small groups which are, in fact, metamorphosing into one group playing twice weekly, it is on my mind. Virtually all these Bury members are beginners and I am frequently surprised at how fast some individuals have learned the basics and can also see that my own play is not quite so dashing as it once was!!

Mah Jong was banned by the government of the 
People's Republic of China in 1949.
Re-introduced after the Cultural Revolution.

The trigger for this blog, however, was a news item that caught my online eye! Last October police in Yushan, a small county in China’s south east Jiangxi province issued a statement announcing the closure of all Mahjong parlours in the region from 22 October. The move was bruited to “push forward the campaign against crimes and gangs to solve the gambling and noise problem and purify social conduct.” Although gambling is illegal in China with widespread problems from illegal gambling dens, those who engage in “win-lose entertainments such as Mahjong and poker involving small amounts of money ….. shall not be punished.”

Last year's backlash was swift and furious. Mahjong 

Police keeping an eye on suspects.

 parlours are legally licensed and as one commentator on social media site, Weibo, fumed, “ My grandparents play Mahjong as part of their daily entertainment.” Others opined that Mahjong itself was not the culprit as “people can gamble with anything.” The closure was seen as a lazy attempt by the government to curtail the real problem; illegal gambling dens, though one social media user saw the positive side of the ban, “Finally! I have been woken up numerous times by Mahjong players!” His joy was short-lived: the day after the imposition of the ban, Yushan authorities revised their statement after witnessing the furious protests, to make it clear that licensed Mahjong parlours were not included.

Mah Jong is a tile-based game originally called ‘maique’ in Chinese; this signifies’ the chattering of 

Mah Jong, 1920s, en plein air....

the sparrows’ which the clacking sound, as the tiles are initially shuffled, is said to resemble. There are 144 tiles, using Chinese characters and symbols, and each player receives 13 tiles to begin, except for the fourth player [the East Wind] who receives one extra to enable her to lead at the beginning of the game. Further explanation of procedures and rules at this point would only serve to mystify but it can be said that Mah Jong is a game of skill, strategy and luck! I should also add that playing the game offers unrivalled opportunities for socialising and relaxed mental exercise! There are many books explaining this mysterious game though my groups use the Australian players, Patricia A. Thompson & Betty Maloney’s “The Mah Jong Player’s Companion” published in 1997 and obtainable, second-hand, on various web sites like Amazon and Ebay. This illustrates over 120 different hands/combinations which players may attempt, is well-illustrated and comprehensively explained.

... et sur l'eau!

Mah Jong developed in China in the 19^th century and has spread throughout much of the world during the 20^th century. The game, and its regional variants, are widely played throughout Japan, Korea and South East Asia and have become increasingly popular in the West. An indication of the latter is its appearance in occasional mainstream pop culture. In the film, Crazy Rich Asians, two main characters meet for a showdown at a Mahjong parlour. And an American television show, Fresh Off The Boat which centres on an Asian-American family, dedicates one whole episode to Mahjong.

Probably not the championships but nonetheless of
daily importance to many. 
When I stayed for two months in Beijing, en route to the supermarket, I always passed groups
of scruffy, noisy, excited men, crouching at the edge of the kerb, engrossed
in their Mah Jong games, wholly involved and happy!
Gambling may have been involved!

An additional nod to the increasing respectability of Mah Jong as a sport, was given in September 1998 when Mah Jong rules were codified for international competitions and in June, 2007, the first official World Mah Jong Championship was held at Chengdu in Sichuan, China. And perhaps the interest of a luxury brand, Hermes, in promoting an expensive arpeggio, seals the deal! It has a luxury Mahjong set “in solid palissander wood” for sale on its website at 40,200 dollars.

Leather Mah Jong set by Hermes "for aunties who like
to play in style." Tiles of palissander wood and all is 
printed on calfskin, to emit 'a delicate sound.'
57,000 Singaporean dollars!
Clearly, Aunties who like to play in style, have good taste
and are not poor!




[N.B. Mahjong seems to be written thus in online descriptions; I always use Mah Jong as two words
which seems to be more common generally in English  language prose.]