Merchant pastime
In its early decades mahjong was associated with the merchant households of the delta cities. It suited a culture of hospitality: four guests, an afternoon or evening, refreshments and conversation. Players held tiles of bone and bamboo, and sets were valued household possessions.
Reformers and critics
As the game spread, it attracted criticism. Reformers of the early Republic linked it to gambling, idleness and national weakness, and some local authorities tried to restrict it. Writers mocked officials who spent their days at the table. The tension between mahjong as social pleasure and mahjong as vice would recur throughout the twentieth century.
Admirers
Other public figures defended the game as harmless or even beneficial: a way to exercise the mind, practise calculation and maintain friendships. Famous admirers in the literary world were often cited, and stories of scholars playing for entire nights became part of the game's lore.
A household institution
By the 1930s and 1940s mahjong was firmly embedded in Chinese domestic life, from wedding banquets to New Year visits. It was during this period that many of the regional styles we know today took a recognisable shape, and that the game's international reputation was established.
