The Joy Luck Club
Amy Tan's 1989 novel and its 1993 film adaptation are organised around a mahjong club of Chinese-American mothers. The empty seat at the table, left by a mother who has died, is taken by her daughter — a powerful image of inheritance and connection.
Crazy Rich Asians
The 2018 film includes a celebrated mahjong scene in which the heroine plays against her boyfriend's mother. The tiles discarded and kept carry the story's meaning, and viewers analysed the hands in detail after release.
Lust, Caution and other dramas
Ang Lee's 2007 film uses games among wealthy officials' wives in wartime Shanghai as a stage for gossip and espionage. Edward Yang's 1996 film Mahjong uses the game's name as a metaphor for 1990s Taipei. Hong Kong cinema has featured mahjong in countless comedies and gambling films.
On television
Mahjong appears regularly in Chinese, Hong Kong, Taiwanese and Japanese television, from family dramas to reality competitions and professional league broadcasts. In each case the table becomes a place where relationships are tested.
