Editing Chinese dominoes (section)

==History==
[[Ming dynasty|Ming]] author Xie Zhaozhe (1567–1624) records the legend of [[domino]]es having been presented to [[Song Dynasty|Song]] [[Emperor Huizong of Song|Emperor Huizong]] in 1112. However the contemporary [[Li Qingzhao]] (1084 – {{circa|1155}}) made no mention of dominoes in her compendium of games.

In China, early "domino" tiles were functionally identical to [[Chinese playing cards|playing cards]]. An identifiable version of Chinese dominoes developed in the 12th or 13th century.

The oldest confirmed written mention of dominoes in China comes from the ''Former Events in Wulin'' (i.e. the capital [[Hangzhou]]) written by the [[Yuan Dynasty]] (1271–1368) author Zhou Mi (1232–1298), who listed "''pupai''" (gambling plaques or dominoes) as well as [[dice]] as items sold by peddlers during the reign of Song [[Emperor Xiaozong of Song|Emperor Xiaozong]] ({{reign|1162|1189}}).<ref name="lo 2000 401">Lo, Andrew (2000) 'The Game of Leaves: An Inquiry into the Origin of Chinese Playing Cards'. [[Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies]], [[University of London]], Vol 63-3 p. 401.</ref>  Andrew Lo asserts that Zhou Mi meant dominoes when referring to ''pupai'', since the Ming author [[Lu Rong]] (1436–1494) explicitly defined ''pupai'' as dominoes (in regards to a story of a suitor who won a maiden's hand by drawing out four winning ''pupai'' from a set).<ref name="lo 2000 401"/> Tiles dating from the 12th to 14th centuries have survived. Unlike most modern tiles they are white with black and red pips.

The earliest known manual written about dominoes is the ''Manual of the Xuanhe Period'' ({{lang|zh|《宣和牌譜》}}) written by [[Qu You]] (1341–1427),<ref name="lo 2000"/> but some Chinese scholars believe this manual is a forgery from a later time.<ref name=ZH>{{Cite news|url=http://mall.cnki.net/magazine/article/ZHWL200901006.htm|publisher=<span lang="zh">《中华文化论坛》2009年01期</span>|language=zh|script-title=zh:《宣和牌谱》瞿佑作辨伪|author=<span lang="zh">乔光辉、郭威、王骏</span>|access-date=2014-01-04|archive-date=4 January 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140104205527/http://mall.cnki.net/magazine/article/ZHWL200901006.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> In the ''Encyclopedia of a Myriad of Treasures'', Zhang Pu (1602–1641) described the game of laying out dominoes as ''pupai'', although the character for ''pu'' had changed,{{clarify|date=August 2022}}<!--tell us what the character is--> yet retained a similar pronunciation.<ref name="lo 2000">Lo, Andrew. "The Game of Leaves: An Inquiry into the Origin of Chinese Playing Cards," ''Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies'', University of London, Vol. 63, No. 3 (2000): 389-406.</ref>

During the [[Qing dynasty]] (1644-1912), the suits known as [[Hua–Yi distinction|"Chinese" and "barbarian"]] were renamed to [[Wen and wu|"civil" and "military"]] respectively to avoid offending the ruling [[Manchu people|Manchus]].<ref>Lo, Andrew (2003) 'Pan Zhiheng's 'Xu Yezi Pu' (Sequel to a Manual of Leaves)- Part 1.' [[The Playing-Card]]: Journal of the [[International Playing-Card Society]], 31 (5). pp. 222.</ref> Tiles with blank ends, like those found in Western "double-six" dominoes, once existed during the 17th century. These games employed two sets of "double-six" tiles. It is possible that these were the types of dominoes that made it to Europe the following century.<ref name="Andrew 2004 pp. 224">Lo, Andrew (2004) 'China's Passion for Pai: Playing Cards, Dominoes, and Mahjong.' In: Mackenzie, C. and Finkel, I., (eds.), Asian Games: The Art of Contest. New York: [[Asia Society]], pp. 224.</ref> However, the 32-piece Chinese domino set, made to represent each possible face of two thrown dice and thus have no blank faces, differs from the 28-piece domino set found [[Western world|in the West]] during the mid 18th century.{{sfn|Pickover|2002|p=141}} Chinese dominoes with blank faces were known during the 17th century.<ref name="Andrew 2004 pp. 224"/>
Each domino originally represented one of the 21 results of throwing two six-sided dice (2d6). One half of each domino is set with the pips from one die and the other half contains the pips from the second die. Chinese sets also introduce duplicates of some throws and divide the tiles into two [[Suit (cards)|suits]]: military and civil.<ref>{{cite journal|date=2003|title=Pan Zhiheng's 'Xu Yezi Pu' - Part 2|journal=[[The Playing-Card]]|volume=31|issue=6|pages=281–284|ref=Lo|last1=Lo|first1=Andrew}}</ref> Chinese dominoes are also longer than typical European ones.

Traditional Chinese domino games include ''[[Tien Gow]], [[Pai Gow]], Che Deng'', and others.