Editing Mahjong (section)

== History ==
[[File:沭陽紙牌.png|thumb|Money-suited cards]]
Mahjong is based on draw-and-discard [[card game]]s that were popular in 18th and 19th century China, some of which are still popular today.<ref name="Lo">{{cite book|last1=Lo|first1=Andrew|title='China's Passion for Pai: Playing Cards, Dominoes, and Mahjong'. In: ''Asian Games: The Art of Contest''|date=2004|publisher=Asia Society|isbn=0-87848-099-4|pages=217–231}}</ref> They were played with a [[stripped deck]] of [[Chinese playing cards#Money-suited cards|money-suited cards]]. Each deck is divided into three suits of '''[[Cash (Chinese coin)|Cash]]''' or coins, '''[[String of cash coins (currency unit)|Strings]]''' of cash, and '''[[Myriad]]s''' of strings. There are nine ranks in each suit. In addition, there are three [[Wild card (cards)|wild cards]]: '''Red flower''', '''White flower''', and '''Old thousand'''. Depending on the game, there are multiple copies of each card.

Games scholar [[David Parlett]] has written that the Western card games [[Conquian]] and [[Rummy]] share a common origin with Mahjong.<ref>{{cite book|last=Parlett|first=David|title=The Penguin Book of Card Games|year=1978|publisher=Penguin |isbn=978-0-14-103787-5}}</ref> All these games involve players drawing and discarding tiles or cards to make [[Meld (cards)|melds]]. [[Khanhoo]] is an early example of such a game. The most likely ancestor to Mahjong was ''pènghú'' which was played with 120 or 150 cards.<ref name="Lo"/> During the late 19th century, ''pènghú'' was used interchangeably with ''máquè'' in both card and tile form.

It is not known when the conversion from cards to tiles took place precisely but it most likely occurred in the middle of the 19th century. The earliest surviving tile sets date to around 1870 and were acquired in [[Fuzhou]], [[Shanghai]], and [[Ningbo]].<ref name="Lo"/><ref name="Stanwick1">{{cite journal|last1=Stanwick|first1=Michael|title=Mahjong(g) Before Mahjong(g): Part 1|journal=[[The Playing-Card]]|date=2004|volume=32|issue=4|pages=153–162|ref=Stanwick1}}</ref><ref name="Depaulis">{{cite journal|last1=Depaulis|first1=Thierry|title=Embarrassing Tiles: Mahjong and the Taipings|journal=[[The Playing-Card]]|date=2007|volume=35|issue=3|pages=148–152}}</ref><ref name="Glover">In 1875, [[George B. Glover]], a commissioner in the Imperial Chinese Maritime Customs Service, donated a set Mahjong tiles to [[American Museum of Natural History]] and the other set to the [[Long Island Historical Society]].  They are the two oldest set Mahjong tiles found in the world.</ref> These sets differ from modern ones in several ways, there were no "flower" and ''fā'' ("green dragon") tiles. In their place were "king" tiles for [[Chinese dominoes|heaven, earth, man, and harmony]] and also for each of the 4 "winds" which may have acted as bonus tiles. In the contemporaneous Himly set, there were no ''zhōng'' ("red dragon") tiles either. Instead there were the wild cards known as Cash Flower, String Flower, and Myriad Flower plus an additional tile, the king of everything. These early jokers are still found in the Vietnamese and Thai sets.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Stanwick|first1=Michael|last2=Xu|first2=Hongbin|title=Flowers and Kings: An Hypothesis of their Function in Early Ma Que|journal=[[The Playing-Card]]|date=2008|volume=37|issue=1|pages=29–40}}</ref><ref name=Complete>Sloper, Tom. [http://www.sloperama.com/majexchange/tutorial.htm Is my set complete?] at sloperama.com. Retrieved 16 May 2016.</ref> They may have been removed as the tiles share the same titles as the leaders of the [[Taiping Rebellion]] (1850–1864).<ref name="Depaulis"/> For example, [[Hong Xiuquan]] was the self-styled "Heavenly King of Great Peace" and his top subordinates were called east king, south king, west king, and north king.

The ban on gambling after the founding of the People's Republic in 1949 led to a decline in playing. The game itself was banned during the [[Cultural Revolution]] (1966–1976).<ref name="Lo"/> Today, it is a favorite pastime in China<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.winmahjong.com/mahjong-in-china/ |title=Mahjong in China |publisher=Win Mahjong |access-date=29 December 2014 }}</ref> and other Chinese-speaking communities.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Oxfeld |first1=Ellen |title=Blood, sweat, and Mahjong |date=1993 |publisher=Cornell University Press |location=Ithaca |isbn=0-8014-9908-9 |pages=108–115}}</ref>

=== Mahjong in the West ===
[[File:28.779 SL1 s.jpg|thumb|200px|Mahjong tiles of late 19th century, a gift of [[George B. Glover|Glover]]<ref name="Glover"/> to the Long Island Historical Society in 1875]]

The first Western records about mahjong seem to correspond to the papers of British Consul General F.E.B. Harvey, around the time when he served as consul in Ningbo, during the 1860s.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2019-01-03|title=On the advent and spread of the game Mah-Jong|url=http://yris.yira.org/essays/2802|access-date=2022-02-23|website=The Yale Review of International Studies|language=en-US}}</ref> He mentions in his papers making the acquaintance of an English-fluent, rank-three official under the Daoguang Emperor, Chen Yumen, who taught him the game. In the same writings he details the rules he was taught by Chen.<ref>Unfortunately, Harvey’s ‘papers’ and ‘detailed’ description of the game have never been found. This story is probably forged.</ref> In 1895, British sinologist [[William Henry Wilkinson]] wrote a paper which mentioned a set of cards known in central China by the name of ''ma chioh'', literally, hemp sparrow, which he maintained was the origin of the term Mahjong. He did not explain the dialect of the originator or region specific etymology of this information.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Wilkinson, W.H.|title=Chinese Origin Of Playing Cards|journal=The American Anthropologist|year=1895|volume=viii|issue=1 |pages=61–78|doi=10.1525/aa.1895.8.1.02a00070|url=https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-03572436/file/chineseorigin%20of%20playingcards-1.pdf|doi-access=free}}</ref> By 1910, there were written accounts in many languages, including [[French language|French]] and Japanese.{{Citation needed|date=April 2014}}

The game was imported to the United States in the 1920s.<ref>{{cite news |title=Recalling the Craze for a Game of Chance |first=Steven |last=Heller |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=15 March 2010 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/18/arts/artsspecial/18MAH.html?ex=1285473600&en=37c8a4976aafc929&ei=5087&WT.mc_id=AR-D-I-NYT-MOD-MOD-M143-ROS-0410-L2&WT.mc_ev=click}}</ref> The first Mahjong sets sold in the U.S. were sold by [[Abercrombie & Fitch]] starting in 1920. It became a success in [[Washington, D.C.]], and the co-owner of the company, [[Ezra Fitch]], sent emissaries to Chinese villages to buy every Mahjong set they could find. Abercrombie & Fitch sold a total of 12,000 Mahjong sets. Mahjong became a central part of cultural bonding for [[Chinese Americans]] in the 1920s and '30s in [[Chinatown, Manhattan]] and was part of community building for suburban American Jewish women in the 1940s and 50s.<ref name="StanfordHeinz">{{cite news |last1=Walters |first1=Ashley |title=From China to U.S., the game of mahjong shaped modern America, says Stanford scholar |url=https://news.stanford.edu/news/2013/july/humanities-mahjong-history-071513.html |access-date=31 March 2021 |work=Stanford Report |publisher=Stanford University |date=15 July 2013 |language=en}}</ref>

Also in 1920, [[Joseph Park Babcock]] published his book ''Rules of Mah-Jongg'', also known as the "red book".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Babcock |first=Joseph Park |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yLarGAAACAAJ |title=Babcock's Rules for Mah-jongg; the Red Book of Rules |date=1923 |publisher=Mah-jongg sales Company of America |language=en}}</ref> This was the earliest version of Mahjong known in America. Babcock had learned Mahjong while living in China. His rules simplified the game to make it easier for Americans to take up, and his version was common through the Mahjong fad of the 1920s. Later, when the 1920s fad died out, many of Babcock's simplifications were abandoned.<ref>{{Cite web |title=A 'Ton' Of Fun: How Mahjong Became A U.S. Phenomenon |url=https://the1a.org/segments/mahjong-phenomenon-america/ |access-date=2022-10-14 |website=1A |language=en}}</ref>

The game has taken on a number of trademarked names, such as "Pung Chow" and the "Game of Thousand Intelligences". Mahjong nights in America often involved dressing and decorating rooms in Chinese style.<ref>[[Bill Bryson]], ''[[Made in America (book)|Made in America]]''. Harper, 1996, ch. 16.</ref> Several hit songs were recorded during the Mahjong fad, most notably "Since Ma Is Playing Mah Jong" by [[Eddie Cantor]].<ref name=slope>{{cite web |url=http://www.sloperama.com/mjfaq/mjfaq19.html#t |title=Why are so many players of American mah-jongg Jewish? |publisher=Sloperama.com |access-date=7 September 2012}}</ref>

Many variants of Mahjong developed during this period. By the 1930s, many revisions of the rules developed that were substantially different from Babcock's classical version (including some that were considered fundamentals in other variants, such as the notion of a standard hand). Standardization came with the formation of the National Mah Jongg League (NMJL) in 1937, along with the first American Mahjong rulebook, ''Maajh: The American Version of the Ancient Chinese Game'', written by NMJL's first president and co-founder, Viola L. Cecil.<ref>Tom Sloper, ''The Red Dragon & The West Wind: The Winning Guide to Official Chinese & American Mah-Jongg'', HarperCollins, 2007.</ref> In 1999, a second organization was formed, the American Mah Jongg Association.

In the United Kingdom, British author Alan D. Millington revived the Chinese classical game of the 1920s with his book ''The Complete Book of Mah-jongg'' (1977). This handbook includes a formal rules set for the game.

=== Current development ===
{{See also|Mahjong and artificial intelligence}}
[[File:Schoolkidsmahjong.jpg|thumb|200px|Students in the United States learning how to play Mahjong]]
There are many governing bodies which often host exhibition games and tournaments for modern and traditional Mahjong gaming.

Mahjong, as of 2010, is the most popular table game in Japan.<ref>Pakarnian, John, "Game Boy:  Glossary of Japanese Gambling Games", ''[[Metropolis (free magazine)|Metropolis]]'', 22 January 2010, p. 15.</ref> As of 2008, there were approximately 7.6 million Mahjong players in Japan and an estimated 8,900 Mahjong parlors did ¥300 billion (converting to US$2.8 billion according to exchange rates for 30 April 2020) in sales.<ref>Matsutani, Minoru, "[https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2010/06/15/reference/mah-jongg-ancient-progressive/ Mah-jongg ancient, progressive]", ''[[Japan Times]]'', 15 June 2010, p. 3.</ref> There are several [[manga]] and [[anime]] (e.g. [[Saki (manga)|''Saki'']] and [[Akagi (manga)|''Akagi'']]) devoted to dramatic and comic situations involving Mahjong.<ref>Schodt, Frederik, ''Manga! Manga! The World of Japanese Comics''. Kodansha, 1986, Chapter 5.</ref> Since the 1980s, hundreds of different Mahjong arcade machines in Japanese [[video arcade]]s have been created, including [[strip game#Mahjong|strip]] versions. Newer units can connect with other arcade machines across the Internet.

[[Mahjong culture]] is still deeply ingrained in the Chinese community. [[Sam Hui]] wrote [[Cantopop|Cantopop songs]] using Mahjong as their themes, and [[Hong Kong]] movies have often included scenes of Mahjong games. Many gambling movies have been filmed in Hong Kong, and a recent subgenre is the Mahjong movie.
Although the popularity of the game in China is still broad, since 1949, mahjong was frowned upon by the government because it is seen as a means of [[Gambling in China|gambling]] addiction, an issue that the government always sought to tackle.<ref>{{Cite web|title = China unveils restrictive new video game content guidelines|url = https://www.theburnin.com/lifestyle/china-video-game-censorship/|website = The Burn-In|date = 25 April 2019|access-date = 2019-08-05}}</ref>

Prolonged playing of Mahjong may trigger [[epilepsy|epileptic seizures]] according to a 2007 study.<ref>{{citation | title = Mah-jong–induced seizures: case reports and review of twenty-three patients | url = http://www.hkmj.org/article_pdfs/hkm0708p314.pdf |author1=Richard S.K. Chang |author2=Raymond T.F. Cheung |author3=S.L. Ho |author4=Windsor Mak |name-list-style=amp | journal = Hong Kong Med J | year = 2007 | volume = 13 | issue = 4 | pages = 314–318| pmid = 17664536 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110726152307/http://www.hkmj.org/article_pdfs/hkm0708p314.pdf | archive-date = 26 July 2011 | url-status = live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=England |first=Vaudine |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6931119.stm |title=Mahjong game can induce epileptic seizures |work=BBC News |date=4 August 2007 |access-date=7 September 2012}}</ref> To date there are 23 reported cases of Mahjong-induced seizures in the English medical literature. Some doctors speculate that this may be due to stress and complex manual movement correlated with intense brain function similar to playing chess or card games such as poker.<ref>{{Cite web|title = Only one way to cure mahjong epilepsy – avoid the game|url = http://www.scmp.com/article/602784/only-one-way-cure-mahjong-epilepsy-avoid-game|website = South China Morning Post| date=3 August 2007 |access-date = 2016-02-19}}</ref>

Studies by doctors have also shown in Hong Kong that the game is beneficial for individuals suffering from dementia or cognitive memory difficulties, leading to the development of Mahjong therapy.<ref>{{cite journal|title=''An exploratory study of the effect of mahjong on the cognitive functioning of persons with dementia'' |date=24 May 2012 |pmid=16779765 | doi=10.1002/gps.1531 |volume=21 |issue=7 |journal=Int J Geriatr Psychiatry |pages=611–7 | last1 = Cheng | first1 = ST | last2 = Chan | first2 = AC | last3 = Yu | first3 = EC|s2cid=6080864 }}</ref>

Researchers have also used [[artificial intelligence]] techniques to develop Mahjong-playing agents using [[Artificial neural network|neural networks]] and [[reinforcement learning]]. They have shown that a self-learning machine can be trained to compete with some of the best [[Richi Mahjong]] players.<ref>{{cite arXiv|last1=Li|first1=Junjie|last2=Koyamada|first2=Sotetsu|last3=Ye|first3=Qiwei|last4=Liu|first4=Guoqing|last5=Wang|first5=Chao|last6=Yang|first6=Ruihan|last7=Zhao|first7=Li|last8=Qin|first8=Tao|last9=Liu|first9=Tie-Yan|last10=Hon|first10=Hsiao-Wuen|date=2020-03-31|title=Suphx: Mastering Mahjong with Deep Reinforcement Learning|class=cs.AI|eprint=2003.13590}}</ref>