Game changer
Mahjong’s history helps (in part) explain anti-Asian and anti-Semitic racism today.
A century ago, marginalized Americans gravitated to mahjong, wherein they recognized the chance to maintain distinct identities while assimilating into the “melting pot.” Today, the history of the Chinese tile game helps contextualize reportedly-rising anti-Asian and anti-Jewish hatred, a new book suggests.
Mahjong was born in mid- to late-19th century Chinese gambling venues, where men clacked iconic game tiles alongside attending courtesans. By the 1920s, Indiana native Joseph Park Babcock, a Standard Oil representative in China, tacked 2,500-odd years onto mahjong’s longevity, hawking it in the U.S. West Coast as a wholesome pastime with ancient Confucian origins.
“It’s one of the most enduring myths about the game,” said Annelise Heinz, author of the new book “Mahjong: A Chinese Game and the Making of Modern American Culture.”
I write on the book in the wire Religion News Service in “Game changer: How mahjong helped Jewish and Asian Americans overcome racism.” (The piece has already run in Washington Post.)
Fascinating!