August 1st is celebrated all over the world as International Mahjong Day to honor and remember one of the widely popular sports exported from China. The game has been popularized by Hollywood movies such as Crazy Rich Asians, The Joy Luck Club, and the television show Fresh off the Boat.
History and Significance:
Mahjong is a rummy-style game of skill played by four people with domino-like tiles. Four players attempt to form sets of three or four matching or sequenced tiles. August 1 is celebrated as International Mahjong Day by communities like Richie Mahjong Central who describe their mission to help make the world a better place through this sport with love and peace. Last year, the community granted national mahjong sai international status because the sport represents a multicultural amalgamation.
According to Annelies Heinz, a doctoral candidate in Stanford’s Department of History, both Jewish American and Chinese American communities were built around Mahjong during the 20th century. Although the game originated in China, it has evolved into many versions as it moves around the world. The game was popularized in the West by the Chinese immigrant community in the United States.
In his research, Heinz found that culturally, Mahjong was important in American Chinatowns in the 1920s and ’30s, as it gave Chinese Americans a chance to bond at a time when many other Americans saw them as outsiders. Her study also noted that Mahjong has become an important way to navigate internal, gender and generational divides within Chinatown. American, Hong Kong, Singapore and Japanese style of Mahjong are some of the famous games.
To celebrate the day, Mahjong enthusiasts come together to participate in their favorite versions of the game. It is believed that this game is not just an interesting game and contains many life lessons. Playing Mahjong involves skills such as communication, negotiation, strategy making, and even collaboration. With these important skills, four players, who sit according to the four directions of East, West, North and South, fulfill the objective of winning the game.
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