A mostly stay-at-home day.
My mum spent much time today cultivating the next generation of mahjong players in our family. For folks unfamiliar with this game, it is a highly addictive social game common to Chinese people. It runs along similar principles to gin rummy. However, mahjong is a lot more tactile, for the following reasons:
the mahjong tiles make a lovely characteristic clacking sound when pushed against one another
The tiles are carved individually with beautiful symbols characterising specific sets of either stylised bamboo (索子) or “rounds” or “copper coins” (铜子) with other sets of chinese calligraphic characters - I think the modern sets are carved by machine nowadays, but in the old days they would have been hand-carved
The tiles themselves are incredibly smooth and cool to touch - as a child I would spend much time touching these tiles and stacking them into towers
Experienced players are able to deduce the patterns carved onto the tiles without needing to look at them - they would rub the carvings with their fingertips
Mahjong is an incredibly social game. Each game needs a minimum of 3 players, but each table can have a maximum of 4 players. Many ladies of leisure would while away long afternoons with friends, chatting, snacking and gambling at the same time. Fortunes can be gained and lost through mahjong.
In our family, it is purely for fun, especially for my mother’s side of the family. I remember my maternal grandparents setting up a table in our living room every time they visited from Sabah, and my mum would spend time with her parents by playing the game. Us kids would hover around watching, and would play with all the plastic gaming chips representing money. There would be gossip, laughter, mutual insults in a light-hearted manner and cheerful banter around the small square table, which is pretty joyous for us kids.
So here’s my mum training my brother-in-law and my niece, who picked it up super-quickly
Specialised mahjong tables can be bought. These tables are of a certain size, and contains a little drawer on each side of the square top for easy access to gaming chips or money.
My husband tells me he learnt how to count and do basic arithmetic from HIS dad teaching him how to play mahjong.
Little vignettes of the mahjong table
