5/28/2023 0 Comments Chinese mahjongThe terminals can give higher scores and so need special attention. The ones and nines at the ends of the sequence are called ‘terminals’ or 纯 幺 九 Chún yāo jiǔ. The circles, bamboos and numbers form the 序数牌 Xù shù pái ‘serials’ and only these tiles can form runs or ‘ chows’ (2,3,4 5,6,7 and so on). Lao Zi probably lived in the sixth or possibly the fourth century BCE. His name just means 'Old (or Venerable) Master'. Unlike Confucius details of his life are very sketchy often based on myths and legends. Lao Zi is considered the founder of Daoism. Old Chinese coins were often strung together in hundreds, a hundred of such strings represented a large number of coins - 10,000 and is often used to mean ‘countless’ or ‘beyond measure’. They are also known as ‘ wans’ or ‘craks’. On many sets the character for 万 wàn 萬 ‘ 10,000 or numerous’ is underneath each Chinese number. The 36 Number tiles are in four identical sets of 9 tiles with the Chinese characters for the numbers 1 to 9 engraved on them. Bamboos are also known as ‘ soks’ or ‘bams’. The ‘1’ is usually a picture of a bird often a sparrow 麻雀 Má què by which the game is named in southern China. Bamboo in Chinese is 竹 zhú or else the 索 子 suǒ zǐ ‘suit’ or ‘woven thread suit’. The 36 Bamboo tiles are in four identical sets of 9 tiles with one to nine bamboo stems engraved on them. Circles are also known as ‘ tans’ or ‘dots’. In Chinese they are 筒 子 tǒng zi meaning ‘barrel’ or ‘tube shaped’, named after the circular coins with a hole in them that were the currency for many centuries. The 36 Circle tiles are in four identical sets of 9 tiles with one to nine circles engraved on them. Mah-Jongg, became a great craze as a parlor game in the 1920s when the US company Abercrombie & Fitch ➚ had great success in popularizing it there were a number of trade marked versions of the game including ‘Pung Chow’ and ‘Game of Thousand Intelligences’.Ī standard set has the following tiles: Circles It was originally known as 麻雀 Má què or ‘sparrow game’ in English and is still known by that name in southern China while in the north it is 麻 将 Má jiàng. The names normally used for the tiles suggest that the export to America came from the Guangdong (Canton) area. Some people have said it goes back all the way to the time of Confucius but there is no evidence for this. On the other hand the mystique of an ancient game from the mysterious and exotic East was a major selling point, so it is possible it was invented more recently. The oldest known sets come from about 1870 in the Ningbo region of Zhejiang, perhaps by Chen Yumen ➚ 陈 鱼 门 Chén Yúmén (1817-1878). In a search for evidence of an early use of the game, no definitive evidence pushes it back before the Taiping Rebellion but pastimes are rarely mentioned in old history books particularly when played by ordinary people rather than the scholarly elite. The tiles were originally made of bone, bamboo or ivory but now are made from plastic. Like Chinese chess, Mahjong is often played in tea-houses and the clattering of tiles on tables is a frequently heard. Mahjong is a game combining skill and chance vaguely similar to the card game of rummy ➚ the aim is to collect related groups of tiles, however the set of tiles and rules are a lot more complex than for cards. The absence of a 'queen' piece and the strange rules for 'cannons' make this a more challenging game than the version played in the West. There are strong reasons to suppose that the Chinese game 象 棋 Xiangqi or 'elephant game' is closer to the original form. Image by Joe Mabel ➚ available under a Creative Commons License ➚ Chinese ChessThe Chinese game of chess is rather different to the version used in the west. Playing mahjong at Seattle's Chinatown-International District Night Market, Hing Hay Park, International District, Seattle, Washington. The game of mahjong (or mah-jongg) is another famous Chinese invention and export to the rest of the world. Modern history People's Republic of China Future Leaders Government Space Exploration Economy Long March Republic of China May 4th Movement Pastimes | Mahjong Chinese Mahjong
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