Evening star., 1923-09-17
MAH-.JONGC
BY Da. FRANK CRANE.

In Shanghai some time ago 1 met
the enterprising Americans who are
largely responsible for the mah-jongg
craze in America and Europe. They
told me some curious facts.
The game originated among the Chi
nese, to whom are attributed also the
inventions of chess. dominoes and
playing cards. The Chinese mind loves
a puzzle or game. All classes of
Chinese, from the cabinet minister to
the coolie, are gamblers.
Much of their poise is due to the
fact that they consider life itseiT as
a good deal of a gamble. Such point
of view Is certainly conducive to the
Outstanding mind. not to speak of the
aloofness of philosophy.
The game of mah-jongg is very old.
Nobody knows when 1t originated. 1t
! was probably an evolution from other
Chinese card games.
1t is played with dominoes made of
bamboo wood faced with bone o;
ivory The bone seems to be bette:
than the ivory. holding it's color bet
ter The bone is taken from the siii:,
bone of oxen. Many of these bones
are imported to China from America.
a curious fact which is explained by
the consideration that China is not a
cattle country.
The name mah-jongg, however, is
quite modern and was coined by the
americans who have commercialiZed
the game. 1t is the same sort of a
name as peruna or freezomint, only 1t
hasn't as much sense to il. 1t simply
sounds Chinese.
AS near as / could discover. after
putting several Chinese scholar
through the third degree, jongg
means nothing at all and nah mean:
pretty near everything.
There is no such word in Chinese as
Jongg. 1 make this statement with
considerable trepidation, as 1 have
never heard one positive fact stated
about China or the Chinese that some
body hasn't contradicted. If you say
that China is a large country som
man who has lived there for twenty
years win laugh at you and assur'
you that it is a very small country.
used carelessly to throw around tho
information that there weres 400, ,000.-
900 Chinese. AT least three authori-
ties have informed me that / was
wrong, although no two of these
fore. to receive letter from SOM
China maniac scornfully rebuking r.
for my ignorance and informing M
that every Chinaman knows tina
jongg means kind Of lizard. small
stream or the left hind toe of
chicken.
However, the American mah-jong'
merchant who has patented the trad
mark in the United States told m
that he had invented it himself anc
that jongg means nothing at all. Ye.
what jongg lacks appears to be more
than made up by nah. which seem
to mean quite a number of things
among others a horse and swalloV
or reedbird.
1 suppose it is a good deal accord
| ing to the way you pronounce ii. fo'
Chinese is the language of monosyl.
tables. any one of which will have
half a dozen or more meanings ac-
cording to the tone of voice. Fur
thermore. j hereby challenge any
white man to listen to the five pro-
nunciations of flu, for instance, and
distinguish between them.
But to return to our mutton-mah
jongg is a game played with domi
noes, but II A the same sort of a
or coon can. The player wins who
first gains complete hand of threes
of a kind or sequences of three-that
is. roughly speaking, for there are
variations to this.
The Chinese play the game with
extreme rapidity and click their
dominoes on the board with bewilder-
ing skill.
The game easily lends itself to gam
bling. as the element of chance far
exceeds the element of judgment. Of
course. like poker, it can be played
without gambling.
| would recommend the game to
Methodists. as the law of their church
prohibits card playing. but says moth
| ing about playing a game with little
pieces or bone.