Who invented mahjong?

The statue of "three missing one" in Tianyi Pavilion, Ningbo

.　　China is a big country with a long cultural history of 5,000 years, and the many forms of games and activities created by Chinese laborers are among the longest in the world. Among the many types of games, mahjong is one of the crystallization of Chinese wisdom, and it is a form of game that the general public enjoys. So, when did Mahjong begin? Who invented it and how did it evolve? What is the charm?

The evidence in the History of Games

According to the evidence in the History of Games by Cai Fengming, there are several possibilities for the origin of mahjong.

One is that it originated from the "six blogs" in the pre-Qin era. Many documents such as "The Analects of Confucius", "Chu Ci", and "The Records of the Grand Historian" contain a lot of records about the six games. Because the chess pieces used on both sides of six, six black and six red, and six dice, so called "six Bo". In ancient times, the word "game" referred to the six games of Go.

The second is from the horse hanging cards. The novel "Plum in the Golden Vase" in the fifty-first, there is Pan Jinlian and Wang Chauer fight horse hanging cards description. Originally originated in the Kunshan area of Jiangsu Province, horse hanging cards were y loved at that time because of the many variations and strong entertainment. Horse hanging leaves are generally one inch wide, three inches long, the number of 40, color **** divided into four doors of the cross, ten thousand words, Suo word, Wen Qian. At the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, the horse hanging tiles became "silent and tiles", and the modern mahjong game has been very close.

Thirdly, it originated from the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Army.

Third, it originated from the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Army. The Qing Barnyard Banknote has the article "Forked Sparrow", which reads: "The Cantonese invaders used to gamble on wine in the army, and ...... was not yet in operation for a few years, and flowed into Ningbo, which soon became popularized." According to this statement, mahjong tiles were first created in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom army, then spread to Ningbo, and then popularized to the whole country.

The testimony of Tianyi Pavilion

According to Tianyi Pavilion researchers, the inventor of mahjong was Chen Yumen, a native of Ningbo.

Chen Yumen (1817-1878), Daoguang twenty-nine (1849) year Bugong, it is said that he "extensive socializing, wine and gin no false day", very happy to play, familiar with the cards. He was y concerned about the many inconveniences of cards, in the third year of the Tongzhi (1846) changed to bamboo bone, inherited the "touch and cards" in the Wan, Suo, tube, **** 108, easy saffron for the green hair, white flowers for the white board, the old man for the red in the name of the "three arrows", each of the four, **** 12, the four winds of each 4, **** 12, the four winds of each of the four, the four winds of each of the four. 12, 4 each of the four winds, **** 16. This resulted in the formation of the then popular 136 mahjong tiles.

From the records, it is not so much that Chen Yumen invented mahjong as that he improved it, making it more interesting to play.

"Invented by Zheng He"

It is said that during the Ming Dynasty's Zheng He's seven voyages to the West China Sea, tens of thousands of soldiers on board the ship suffered from monotony of life at sea and homesickness, which made them mentally depressed, and even suffered from depression. Zheng He then made recreational tools, the use of bamboo on board made of bamboo cards, carved with text patterns, and then make the rules of the game, placed on the square table of the meal can be for four people at the same time entertainment.

In the text pattern to determine, in order to cater to the psychology of the generals and seafaring reality, the establishment of the red "in" on behalf of the Central Plains, catering to homesickness; because the purpose of the voyage is to do business, so there is the word "hair". How much money will be made? "Ten thousand", "twenty thousand"...... "ninety thousand". As the daily staple food of the generals in the voyage is a big pancake, how much to eat? "One cake", "two cakes" ...... "nine cakes". When the wind and waves are calm, the generals will also fish, so there are "one", "two"...... "nine" .

Playing this game, the generals of the depressed swept away, Zheng He saw this bamboo tiles can paralyze the generals of homesickness, it will be named "mahjong".

In fact, the historical clues of mahjong is not so important, and what really matters is: mahjong as a microcosm of the history of the Chinese nation's games, as with any game category, for many years, so that the player in which the flavor of leisure, fun