Mahjong: A Chinese Game and the Making of Modern American Culture

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How has a game brought together Americans and defined separate ethnic communities? This book tells the first history of mahjong and its meaning in American culture.

Click-click-click. The sound of mahjong tiles connects American expatriates in Shanghai, Jazz Age white Americans, urban Chinese Americans in the 1930s, incarcerated Japanese Americans in wartime, Jewish American suburban mothers, and Air Force officers’ wives in the postwar era.

Mahjong: A Chinese Game and the Making of Modern American Culture illustrates how the spaces between tiles and the moments between games have fostered distinct social cultures in the United States. This mass-produced game crossed the Pacific, creating waves of popularity over the twentieth century. Annelise Heinz narrates the history of this game to show how it has created a variety of meanings, among them American modernity, Chinese American heritage, and Jewish American women’s culture. As it traveled from China to the United States and caught on with Hollywood starlets, high society, middle-class housewives, and immigrants alike, mahjong became a quintessentially American game. Heinz also reveals the ways in which women leveraged a game to gain access to respectable leisure. The result was the forging of friendships that lasted decades and the creation of organizations that raised funds for the war effort and philanthropy. No other game has signified both belonging and standing apart in American culture.

Drawing on photographs, advertising, popular media, and dozens of oral histories, Heinz’s rich and colorful account offers the first history of the wildly popular game of mahjong.

From the Publisher

Fig. 0A.1 1920s set

Bone and bamboo composed most mahjong sets during the 1920s fad. Many came in wooden boxes with pullout drawers and a sliding front cover. More desirable sets were made in China, as advertised on the front cover of this box. Author’s Collection.

Fig 2.1 Courtesan Mahjong

Courtesans and their clients play mahjong in Shanghai, likely on a river “flower boat” at the turn of the twentieth century. As shown here, Chinese players stood the tiles on end, in contrast to the racks American players later adopted. From R. Barz, Sketches of Present-Day Shanghai.

Fig 5.2 First Hundred Games

Mahjong was viewed as a women’s game. In addition to the obvious humor about wives forcing their husbands to learn the game, the cartoon included more subtle jokes, as the woman’s speech includes errors and a meandering, convoluted explanation. New York Evening Mail. Parker Brothers Archive.

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Oxford University Press; First Edition (May 3, 2021)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 360 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0190081791
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0190081799
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.31 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.2 x 1.3 x 9.3 inches