Heritage
A game can carry more stories than fit on the table.
Mah Jongg has Chinese roots and a long, changing life in America. This is a place to learn with curiosity: about art, motifs, migration, family traditions, and the many communities who have made the game their own.
Art & motifs
Cranes, tigers, dragons, bamboo, peaches, and flowers appear across many Chinese art traditions. We explore context before borrowing a meaning.
Follow this thread →ExploreThe game crosses oceans
American Mah Jongg became a social phenomenon in the 1920s, then kept changing through Chinese American, Jewish American, and many other communities.
Follow this thread →ExploreFamily tables
What travels between generations is rarely just a set of tiles. It can be a way of gathering, teasing, teaching, and remembering.
Follow this thread →A note on how we learn here
One bird or symbol cannot contain a whole culture. When we write about Chinese art or history, we name the source, stay specific about what we know, and make room for the fact that traditions travel and change. The most interesting response to a beautiful motif is often another question.