How does Mahjong culture go global?

Hu Shi discovered in the United States in the 1920s that Chinese students were actually making money by teaching locals how to play mahjong. He was greatly stimulated and exclaimed: "No one can dream of the vanguard of Eastern civilization conquering the West. It’s those 136 Mahjong generals!”

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Since then, China’s “national skill” of Mahjong has quickly become popular in Europe, the United States, Japan and other countries. Taking root, Japan also created the "Mahjong Museum".

Now, the World Mahjong Organization organizes a Mahjong World Championship every two years.

Foreign "Mahjong fans" believe that Mahjong is China's national quintessence. It embodies a virtue of thinking and deserves to be protected as a world heritage.

How the "Mahjong Enlightenment Book" was born

In the 1920s, more and more Westerners came to China to dig gold. They were surprised to find that there is an entertainment project in China that is more attractive than the movies that are popular around the world. The slogans outside the cinema are advertising slogans such as "Mahjong can be played every day, but good movies are not always available to watch." Surprised, foreigners coming to China also began to learn to play mahjong for leisure and practice.

At this time, a Moses-like figure appeared in the history of Western Mahjong. John Babcock, who worked at Mobil Oil Company in Suzhou, was the first to try to organize and standardize the gameplay of mahjong in English. In 1924, he published a book in China to teach Westerners how to play mahjong, "Babcock Mahjong Rules Manual", which is the famous "Book of Enlightenment" and is regarded as the supreme enlightenment classic. He unified the standard of English terminology in his book, which he owns the copyright for. Since then, Mahjong has its own official English name "Mah-jongg". This book was very popular in the treaty port cities. From 1920 to 1924, twelve editions were printed. It also traveled across the ocean and was printed and sold in the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

Almost since then, China has begun exporting mahjong tiles to European and American countries in large quantities. According to tax information from the Republic of China, in September 1922, Harmont, a San Francisco lumber merchant, imported a batch of mahjong tiles worth US$50,000 from Shanghai and established a specialized mahjong sales company. This was the first large-scale entry of Mahjong tiles into the American market.

In order to promote mahjong, Harmont's company also set up free courses.

With the mahjong craze in the United States, the supply of mahjong tiles exceeds the demand. In 1922, 130,000 pairs of mahjong imported from the United States were sold out, selling for as much as $500 a pair; sales that year soared to 1.5 million pairs. In 1923, the annual street fair on Park Avenue in New York was going to invite 12 Chinese people to demonstrate how to play mahjong. As a result, on the first day of the street fair, the mahjong tiles for display were forcibly bought by onlookers.

A report from the U.S. Department of Commerce at that time even pointed out that a large number of bones were being exported to China from Chicago and Kansas City. The Chinese used the raw materials to make mahjong tiles and then sold them back to the United States to satisfy the American market. demand for high-quality handmade mahjong tiles. In order to make it easier for Westerners to play, many mahjong exports at that time were also marked with Arabic numerals on the strips, cakes and thousands.

By the end of 1923, approximately 15 million Americans were playing mahjong. According to reports from newspapers and magazines of that year, a mahjong advertisement was published in the New York Times in 1923, saying that a certain church had opened a mahjong class and was recruiting students, with tuition fees of US$10 per person. The March issue of "Vanity Fair" of the same year published a mahjong recommendation article by author Foster. He described a mahjong storm as a typhoon, as if it was an early warning. He wrote: "The center of the Mahjong storm that made landfall in the Western Pacific in April last year is continuing to blow towards the eastern United States with its unabated winds, and has moved to Boston and Maine in the eastern United States earlier this year. Some social places. It is expected that the center of the mahjong storm will continue to move towards New York City. There are currently more than a dozen experts specializing in mahjong teaching in New York City.

Americans who did not have private teachers to teach mahjong were enthusiastically reading Babcock's Mahjong Enlightenment Book..."

Mahjong became the opium of American women

At that time, American society was undergoing a transformation. In the most splendid and prosperous period, more and more families began to enter modern life. It was during this period that mahjong, a small domino like opium, was especially favored by American women.

, more and more men are working in urban companies, while women are living more and more freely. They don’t have to do housework at home all day long, so they spend a lot of time together for leisure. Mahjong has become their best entertainment after their husbands go to work. Leisure activities.

Mahjong has even become a "formal therapy" for housewives to relieve their worries about their husbands working in the city. An old photo taken in 1924 shows the entry of mahjong. Characteristics of the American Post. In the photo, there are four American women wearing swimsuits and looking relaxed, playing mahjong on a floating table in the swimming pool. This scene reflects the social reality like the group in "Desperate Housewives" no matter how busy they are every week. They are like housewives who all get together to play cards.

The white woman Valerie is called the "Mahjong Queen among white people" by the locals. She plays short rounds of mahjong 9 times a week, plus two " "Marathon Mahjong" - playing on Sunday morning until 11:30 pm, and then playing from 11 am to 7 pm the next day, playing mahjong for about 30 hours a week. As a manifestation of this popularity, Eddie Conte wrote a song for a musical called "When Mom Started Playing Mahjong." The lyrics said, "Ever since Mom started playing Mahjong, the house has been so lively..."

The cover of "Life" magazine published on April 24, 1924 shows an old Chinese couple playing mahjong. The title has a homophonic meaning: "Paand Ma Jongg" (Mahjong), with a few words thrown underneath. The two cards, one east and one west, seem to imply that the east wind has spread to the west, and mahjong is popular in the east and west.

Of course, the ubiquitous Chinese students are the pioneers in bringing mahjong to the United States and even around the world. "They met at the end of the world and fell in love at first sight. They talked about the motherland that was suffering from foreign aggression and internal strife, and they all wanted to go back and serve it immediately. But the ship was moving so slowly, and everyone was homesick. They were worried and had nowhere to turn. Suddenly, two sets of mahjong tiles came from nowhere. , Mahjong is of course the national game, and it is said to be popular in the United States; playing cards not only has the flavor of hometown, but also conforms to the world trend. "This is the scene written by Qian Zhongshu at the beginning of "The Besieged City", which was indeed very common at the time.

Japan has a Mahjong Museum

Although Mahjong is the quintessence of China; International students have brought it to all corners of the world, but when it comes to effective cultural promotion, Japan and European and American countries do a better job, especially Japan.

There is an American student who holds a scholarship from the United States. He went to Japan to study Mahjong culture, and was interviewed by Hillary before leaving. The first World Mahjong Championship was held in Chengdu in 2007. At that time, his research in Japan was about to end, and he planned to visit China, the birthplace of Mahjong, before returning home. Take a look. The author asked him why he went to Japan to study Chinese things, and he said: "Japan has the largest Mahjong museum in the world, which collects cultural relics and materials related to Mahjong from various countries. "

Japan has built a Mahjong Museum, and other countries have also organized various Mahjong associations. Louis Maddow, president of the American Mahjong Association, said: "In 1999, we established the American Mahjong Association with the purpose of promoting this game. An ancient game. "They also held the first North American Mahjong Championship, which attracted more than 200 players.

Mado believes that holding these competitions not only provides gathering opportunities for Mahjong enthusiasts, but also allows them to make new friends. . Matt Berg, a contestant from Texas, said: "I have always played online mahjong. This competition makes me very excited. It is a very different feeling to play against real players. I am looking forward to participating in an international competition." Mahjong tournament. "

The Netherlands is the "Bridgehead of Mahjong" in Europe. The game was launched here and then spread throughout Europe. In 2005, Dutch Mahjong enthusiasts established the "Dutch Mahjong Association".

Subsequently, mahjong associations emerged in various European countries. In the same year, the mahjong associations of seven countries, including Australia, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, and the Netherlands, initiated the registration and establishment of the European Mahjong Association in Denmark. The World Mahjong Organization said, "As of now, the mahjong associations of 14 European countries have become members of the European Mahjong Association."

Now not only do many countries have their own leagues, but mahjong also has European Championships and World Championships. Graeme said that his love for mahjong "will last forever". Although he failed to win anything from participating in the competition, he still worked tirelessly to develop poker friends and strive to form a strong team to participate in the World Championships in the Netherlands and Austria.

Playing mahjong to prevent Alzheimer's disease

People fall in love with mahjong for different reasons, and some even learn to play mahjong for their health.

“I used to know that Chinese people can cook food in all kinds of ways, but I didn’t expect that they can also play with these boxy ‘little bricks’ so well.” 56-year-old American Charles Ge Waltstein was the sales manager of a real estate agency in Auckland. One day, his neighbor, Mrs. Katie, invited him to be a guest. From then on, he got to know Mahjong as a new thing.

Katie's family is immigrants from Hong Kong. Seeing that Charles was curious about mahjong, she began to teach him how to play Cantonese mahjong. "I used to like playing the piano and violin, but recently I fell madly in love with Mahjong. The Chinese are so smart. This game is very complicated to learn and very fun to play. You never know the next card God will give you. What is it? My Chinese friends told me that playing mahjong can make the brain active and it is said to prevent Alzheimer's disease. "Originally, Charles just went to his neighbor's house to play mahjong on weekends, but in order to "prevent Alzheimer's disease," he started looking for poker friends online. He joined a group called "Super Mahjong" on Facebook. This group already has more than 10,000 members, and everyone exchanges experiences and "makes appointments" online.

They believe that a lot of culture with Chinese characteristics can be learned at the poker table. But the strange thing is "Why doesn't China strive to make mahjong an Olympic event?"

(Originally published in "World Expo", some information comes from "Looking at History", "West China Metropolis Daily", " Chongqing Evening News")

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