On Mahjong
(Information provided by Dr Chan Ming-chi)
Mahjong, a quintessential Chinese pastime sometimes referred to as Maque (sparrow), is a game of intelligence and skill with a history of a thousand years or longer. During the late Qing era, the game developed into a 144-tile version played with 13 tiles per player. In April 2017, the International Mind Sports Association formally recognized Mahjong as a mind sport.
Mahjong’s origins
One legend has it that the Mahjong game was invented by a man called Wan Bingtiao in the early 14th century. He drew inspiration from his favourite Chinese classic The Water Margin to develop the earliest form of the game, with the 108 outlaws in the story engraved on the mahjong tiles. The four cardinal points were added to denote the different directions whence the protagonists hailed, while the three dragons represented the diverse social stations of these heroes ranging from noblemen and officials to ordinary joes.
Another version traced Mahjong back to Taicang in Jiangsu where at one time inhabitants were encouraged to help control bird infestations which threatened their granaries. The ‘Circles’ suit of tiles came from the cross-section of a gun barrel, the ‘Bamboo’ suit indicated the sections of rope for tying the dead birds, and the ‘Characters’ suit represented the monetary rewards they got from ridding the birds.
Mahjong and classical Chinese philosophy
The mahjong game incorporates elements of age-old Chinese philosophy. For instance, the cardinal directions in the game are associated with the Five Elements, as East is with Wood, West with Metal, South with Fire, North with Water, and the Centre with Earth. Likewise, the White Dragon represents the earth, the Green Dragon the sky, and the Red Dragon humanity. As such, the four directions together with the three Dragons constitute the cosmic circle.
Mahjong is also closely linked with traditional Chinese thinking about numbers. The number of suits and melds of Circles, Bamboo and Characters is influenced by the use of 3 as the base number and 9 as the supreme number commonly associated with the Chinese emperor. The number 5 refers to the Five Elements, the five flavours, the five internal organs, or the five colours. The number 12 is related to the 12 zodiac animals, the 12 Earthly Branches or the 12 months. The square of 12 is 144, while 108 is a multiple of 12. Additionally, each player has a hand of 13 tiles during play and 13 x 4 players gives 52 which points to the number of weeks in a year.
Moreover, a mahjong game is played with tiles faced down, invoking the mysteries of the Qimen Dunjia, China’s foremost method of divination and suggesting the mystical twists and turns of happenings.
Mahjong and gaming culture
Although Mahjong pitches the wit and strategy of (usually four) players against one another, the orderly drawing and discarding of tiles accords every player equal opportunity at the game.
Like wartime maneuvers, Mahjong techniques put the players’ foresight and judgement to the test. The game is also gratifying in its form, sound, colour and touch.
Mahjong in music
The new work featuring Mahjong commissioned by HKCO aims to express the human perceptions of meaning of life and order of time through gaming culture and ancient Chinese philosophy.
Mahjong and tonality
The main note in this piece of music is D, reflecting the first letter of Dong, the Chinese character ‘east’ in pinyin used in the title, as well as the frequent dong-dong-dong sound of drums being played. The D note also scaffolds the overall tonal construction of the piece, such as D pentatonic series, D major and minor tones, and Dorian mode.
The winning hand and orchestration
The goal of Mahjong is to be the first to achieve a legal winning hand, but that requires a high degree of strategy and perseverance. Therefore, in orchestrating this work of music, the movements borrowed different underlying concepts from three principles crucial for success in life and business, namely Bamboo Principle1, Lotus Principle2 and Cicada Principle3, to showcase the characteristic sounds of the different instruments of the Chinese Orchestra.
Notes
1 Bamboo Principle: In its first four years, a bamboo seedling only grows by 3cm; but from its fifth year onwards, the plant shoots up at the astounding rate of 30cm a day to reach a height of 15 meters in a matter of six weeks. In those four years, the plant has actually put out an extensive root system covering several hundred square meters. One length of bamboo may have to endure countless cuts to be made into a Chinese flute, dizi. Yet it only takes a single cut to render another length of bamboo into a very humble pole for hanging out laundry to dry. The life lesson here is therefore one needs to build reserves, withstand adversity, endure loneliness, shoulder responsibilities, and accomplish missions in order to succeed.
2 Lotus Principle: The flowers of a lotus colony in a pond bloom at the rate of two times of the previous day every day during the blossoming season. If half the flowers in the colony are in bloom on the 29th day of the month, then all would be in full bloom on the next. In other words, the highest number of flowers that bloom on the last day of that month would double the number open on the 29th day. The moral here is that success is accumulative and takes time to build. Just as with Mahjong – the true winner emerges only after the last game.
3 Cicada Principle: A cicada nymph must first live underground in complete darkness for three years or more, enduring all manner of loneliness and solitude, and surviving only on root sap to slowly mature. When the nymph is ready to leave, it quietly crawls up some tree branch on a summer’s night, where it discards its exoskeleton overnight and emerges as an adult cicada. When the sun rises and the wings of the fully grown insect have hardened sufficiently, it flies skywards and rushes towards freedom.
