Surrounded by megacities like Shanghai and Nanjing lies the rural town of Taixing. At first glance, a city like many others, with agriculture and small factories. Yet Taixing distinguishes itself: countless tiles for the board game mahjong roll off the production line daily. Recently, some of these tiles appeared in China for the first time.
The mahjong industry in Taixing began in the 1980s. What started with handmade sets at the kitchen table, with the craft passed down from parent to child and to friends and neighbors, grew into a local industry with nearly two hundred factories. Recently, some of these also began making tiles for the foreign market.
The more than two-hundred-year-old Chinese game is gaining popularity abroad. Through American films and talk shows such as Crazy Rich Asians and The Tonight Show, more people come into contact with the game. This attention coincides with a broader trend on social media, where younger generations seem to have more interest in Chinese culture.
All this has resulted in a strong increase in sales of mahjong sets abroad in recent years. According to ASInsight, sales of mahjong sets via the online retailer Amazon in the US more than tripled in the first half of the year.
In Europe, we see similar figures. According to the Chinese online shopping giant Alibaba, the number of business buyers in Italy and Germany increased by about three-quarters. With more players abroad, an online call also arose to make "foreign-friendly" mahjong sets.
Modernization
One of the entrepreneurs who responded to this call is Wang Hao. Wang, a former Alibaba employee, saw the popularity of mahjong rise. In May, he opened a mahjong factory in Taixing together with friends that specifically makes tiles for abroad.
"The manufacturing process of mahjong tiles is undergoing a drastic change," Wang says. The first part still proceeds in the traditional way: with ovens and hot presses, the tiles are pressed from molds, then polished and manually checked for irregularities. This work is mostly done by residents who have worked in the industry their entire lives. After that, new machines take over.
Last year, the UV printer was introduced to the industry. It offers unprecedented possibilities but also requires new knowledge and precision, Wang explains. "These are all techniques we have to learn. One mistake can ruin an entire set."
The new technology turns the industry upside down but also creates space for different generations of makers. While the older generation continues the preparatory work, younger makers experiment with colors and designs. "Foreigners want more color and different patterns," Wang explains. Their interest in innovative mahjong tiles gives the local industry new chances to survive.
Also popular in the Netherlands
The game is also becoming more popular in the Netherlands, says Désirée Heemskerk, chairwoman of the Dutch Mahjong Association. In 2004, she founded the Dutch Mahjong Association with a few others. "At that time, the Netherlands had a few clubs; now there are as many as 27," Heemskerk says, but "even outside organized groups, more and more people have started playing."
According to Heemskerk, the Japanese mahjong variant, Riichi mahjong, is especially popular among Dutch youth. They come into contact with this variant through popular anime, Japanese animation. "The rules are different; the Riichi variant is even more strategic, but the basics and the tiles are the same," Heemskerk explains.
To connect this new generation of young players to the association, the Mahjong Association is working on a sponsorship package to approach schools and student associations. In this way, the association hopes to encourage young people to set up their own clubs and thus lay a foundation for a thriving mahjong community that, like the makers in Taixing, can thrive for decades to come.
What is Mahjong?
Mahjong is a social game that can be played with two or four people. The game has 144 tiles. On the original mahjong tiles are Chinese characters and images. The goal of the game is to collect a winning combination of tiles as quickly as possible. The rules that this combination must meet depend on which variant you follow.