But how could the founders of The Mahjong Line have approached their work in a way that respected the culture and the roots of Mahjong? Zipeng added that it’s an extra painful blow to people, considering Chinese New Year is only a month away. The Mahjong Line caused harm whether they meant to or not.
#The mahjong line free
It’s a prime example of parts of another culture becoming cool only once white people have deemed it so and of the ease with which white folks can partake in aspects of other cultures without facing a racist backlash.Ī regular Mahjong tile set? Boring, lame! But once it gets designed to look like something straight out of Free People, then sure, your “gal” will play it. It’s blanding, plain and simple-something that’s strangely characterless yet also oh-so visually appealing in our Instagram feeds-but presented with a cultural appropriation twist. The design for The Mahjong Line could have been used just as easily for a plain old deck of cards or even put on a board for The Minimalist Gal’s Monopoly. They don’t understand anything about this, but they somehow decided to remake it.” What was really upsetting were the ones where some of our iconic letters were swapped with some random objects. “These cards looked like this for a very specific reason. “What they lacked is an actual understanding of the essence of these cards,” Zipeng explained. The “gal” who purchases this pricey set wants pretty little lightning bolts and swaying palm trees on her Mahjong tiles-most likely because she hasn’t taken the time to learn the importance of the original illustrations that usually appear on Mahjong tiles. Rather than start with the tradition of Mahjong and use this information to design something new, The Mahjong Line took an ideal customer avatar and created a set that would be palatable for this person. Their sets are for the minimal design-loving gal who “loves a good Eames chair, the smell of coffee shops, abnormally long walks on crisp days and the pulse of NYC,” or the cheeky gal who is often found “cruising on her bike with a flea-find stuffed in the basket, earbuds playing Blondie.” They used playful colors and created adorable tile designs for their line of custom luxury Mahjong tiles and accessories. The Mahjong Line looked to update- or in their words, “refresh”-tile sets for American Mahjong (which, regardless of its name, still has deep roots in traditional Mahjong). Traditional mahjong sets have 144 tiles American mahjong sets look the same but have eight additional Joker tiles and scorecards. Mahjong arrived around the 1920s and was especially popular among Jewish Americans. And, yes, it’s shown up in Western countries like the United States. Mahjong has regional variations within China, and it has also spread to other parts of Asia (riichi mahjong is a Japanese version of the game). You eat and chat and catch up over the Mahjong table.” Back home, we have these Mahjong rooms, and you go there and just sit there for at least half of the day playing Mahjong. “It’s a very popular activity for people to do. “I’ve been playing Mahjong since I was fourteen or fifteen,” said Zipeng Zhu, founder and creative director of Dazzle Studio. A group of (usually) four people will gather and play at a table, and mahjong is still played and loved today by people of all ages. Tiles get categorized as Simples, Honors, and Bonus tiles and feature images of things like bamboo or Chinese characters, and they all play roles in the mechanics of the game. Mahjong is a tile-based game that dates back to the early- to mid-1800s in China (during the Qing Dynasty). But what makes a culture better, and who gets to decide how traditions evolve?
Trying to do so implies that making something more contemporary, perhaps even more Instagrammable, and more refined to a particular set of eyes will make it more palatable to a Gen Z or millennial audience. It’s one thing to refresh a brand it’s another thing entirely to refresh an aspect of a culture. Oh, and did we mention the company was founded by three white women? And that they intended to “refresh” the game by stripping the tiles of the Chinese characters which you would traditionally find on them? Sounds harmless enough, right? Their website features a few different sets of tiles with vibrant colors and cutesy illustrations-and sure, they’re around $400, but they’ll look pretty adorable on your Urban Outfitters coffee table. The Mahjong Line is a Dallas, Texas-based company that started near the end of 2020 with the goal of sharing their love of American mahjong.
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