A nice piece on China’s age-old pastime and favorite game for New Year revelers across much of the country. From China Daily:
Mahjong is one of the most popular games in China. You can ride on a bus in early morning and overhear a middle-aged woman talking excitedly about winning 400 yuan ($56) in a game the night before.
The game has been played for around 400 years in China, and it has become officialized and considered a “social sport”, just like the game of Bridge.
Many Westerners find a great deal of similarity between mahjong and gin rummy, although the former is certainly more difficult. Mahjong is about grouping pieces (in place of cards) together, either by suits or sequences. Mahjong must be played by four people.
