History of Mahjong
need to know the history of mahjong ? It calculate on who you take . There are many theories and legends about mahjong ’s descent – most of them are uncorroborated , and several are quite notional . A popular yet unlikely floor is that mahjong was created by Confucius , the celebrated Chinese philosopher . One outlandish tale sets the game ’s beginnings on Noah ’s Ark. The truthful history of this pop game , however , is more potential anevolutionthan one clear beginning .
Throughout China ’s account , there were several games exchangeable to modern mahjong . Ya Pei , a plot that uprise in the Sung Dynasty ( 960 - 1279 AD ) , used wood and ivory visiting card similar to today ’s mahjong tiles . Another game , Ma Tiae , from the Ming Dynasty ( 1368 - 1644 AD ) , built on Ya Pei and is even close to mod mahjong . After centuries of evolving biz identity card and strategies , it is believed by many that the game we now know as mahjong was ultimately created in the mid- to late 19th one C – however , there is still some debate on who ’s responsible for its universe [ germ : MahjongEd.com ] . One legend suggests that it was a Taiwanese noble in Shanghai , and another imply it was Chinese United States Army officers during the Taiping Rebellion . A very popular possibility is that it was two Chinese brothers ( whose identities are now obscure ) in the city of Ningpo who were ultimately responsible for for creating mahjong .
Once the biz was created , it gained popularity quickly , spreading outside of China ’s borders . Mahjong was in all likelihood first inclose to Westerners around the bend of the twentieth hundred when people began playing it in British lodge in Shanghai [ source : MahjongEd.com ] . Around this clip , other Asiatic area , such as Japan and Korea , pick up the interest .
An American named Joseph Babcock is believe responsible for bring the game to the United States in 1920 after pluck it up in China , where he worked for an oil company . The popularity of the game in the United States grow quickly . Babcock published a set of rules ( there were no official written principle in China at the prison term ) and several companies , such as Milton Bradley and Parker Brothers , make game sets . The craze spread around the nation but was most popular in New York City where the National Mah Jongg League was finally created ( the terms " mahjong " and " mah jongg " both name to the same game ) .
As mahjong became more popular in the United States and around the universe , its practice was discourage in its birthplace of China . Chinese government officials only wanted elect citizens playing the game because they feared that boor might develop their mental capacities through playing . After the Communist Revolution of the late 1940s , Chairman Mao outlawed mahjong , claiming it was a capitalist biz because histrion would sometimes risk on the consequence . Prohibition of the game in China was lifted in 1985 , and it has rebounded in popularity .
One of the reasons mahjong is so popular in China is because of the symbolism in unlike elements of the game . Keep reading to find out more about the import behind the mahjong tiles , cause and sets .
