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 The History of Mahjong

China is famous for many things. They gave us fireworks.  They gave us the panda bear and they gave us Mahjong.
Mahjong is a game that is played with four people.   It is much like rummy where skill and strategy are required to win.
 
Where did Mahjong come from?

Many myths surround the origins of mahjong.  Some believe that Confucious developed it about 500 BC.  The symbols on the tiles seem to suggest this. In addition, Confucius was fond of birds. The name mahjong beans sparrow in Chinese.
 
Still others believe that Chinese officers created the game during the Taiping Rebellion to pass the time.

Other historians seem to believe that it is based on a Chinese card game called “Madiao” hanging horse.  This game is played with 40 cards numbered 1 to 9 in four suites. The marking on the cards are similar to the markings on the pieces that players use today.
Then there is the theory that a nobleman living in Shanghai created the game between 1850 and 1875.  No one really knows for sure. They do know that it has been around for a long time.

When the People’s Republic of China became prominent, the government banned mahjong. The reason they gave was that the game involved gambling and that was a symbol of capitalist corruption. When the Cultural Revolution came along it was reinstated.
The game was not known outside of China until 1895 when an American anthropologist wrote a  paper with the name of the game in it.  In 1910, accounts started to show up in many other languages such as Japanese and French.

The game began to show up in the Unites States when Abercrombie & Fitch sold it during the 1920s. When it caught on, Ezra Fitch sent people to China to buy up as many as they could find.  During this time, Abercrombie & Fitch sold 12000 sets of the game.
Many variations of the game were present during this time. In 1937, the National Mah Jongg League standardized the rules for playing it.
 
Today, the American Mah Jongg Association hold tournaments across the nation with the main event held at Trump Taj Mahal Casino in Atlantic City.
The game became popular in its commuter format where a single individual plays it in solitaire form by selecting matching tiles. They are then removed from the board. When all the tiles are removed from the board, you win.
 
Mahjong is a game with a long history. From its beginnings some say as early as 500 BC., it has become a very popular game played in tournaments as well as one game consoles and computers. If you are looking for the best Mahjong Sets and Mahjong Products on the internet. Take a look at our categories on our website. There are discount, cheap and wholesale offers from broad range of Mahjong bands with 5 stars customer reviews.