Since ancient times, china has a lot of traditional culture and things have been passed down to the present, which are the treasures in the long river of China's cultural history, such as poetry and song, piano, chess, calligraphy and painting.
However, few people know that mahjong is also one of the traditional cultures of our country, mahjong was listed as a world mind sports project by the International Mind Sports Federation in 2017, which shows the popularity of mahjong.
Mahjong has originated in China since ancient times, and the earliest can be traced back to the horse tag in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, which is also the predecessor of mahjong.
Later, after years of development, in the late Qing Dynasty, mahjong has become one of the favorite entertainment items of people from all walks of life, and many Qing officials like to play mahjong.
Even the emperor liked it, even more so than the last emperor Puyi, who once had a pair of mahjong that belonged to him, and this pair of mahjong accompanied Puyi's life for decades.
Before introducing Puyi's pair of mahjong, let's first introduce the origin of mahjong and some evolutionary processes.
The origin of mahjong
The founder of Mahjong was created by a man named Wan Bao, and now the "Wan, Pie, Strip" in Mahjong is also named after him.
The original mahjong was called the horse hangtag, which was just a kind of card, similar to our current poker cards, the horse hangtag was only sixty in the beginning, the size was only two inches long, one inch wide, very suitable for playing.
However, people gradually found that the number of horse hangtags was too small and not good enough, so they combined the two pairs of horse hangtags into one, and later someone created a horse tag that could stand, named it mahjong, and then it has been passed down to this day.
There is also a legend about mahjong, according to rumors, the 108 cards of mahjong represent the heroes and good men of Liangshan, and the east, west, south, and north represent these people coming from all directions, and these people together form mahjong.
Puyi's royal mahjong
Almost all of the imperial palace nobles of the Qing Dynasty had their own mahjong, and they often spent time in their spare time by playing mahjong.
For example, Empress Dowager Cixi's imperial mahjong is called "imperial jiyang mahjong", and Puyi's royal mahjong is "multicolored screw card", these mahjong are made by professionals, and the production materials are more exquisite.
At that time, most of the folk mahjong was made of bamboo and wood, and most of the mahjong used by the nobles of the imperial palace was made of scraps of high-quality materials.
Many people wonder, why not use gold and silver to make mahjong? This is not only conducive to the preservation of mahjong, but also can highlight the noble status of the nobles in the palace.
In fact, mahjong made of gold and silver looks noble, but the feel is not good, such as cold winter, the weather itself is very cold, and then touch the mahjong made of gold and silver is even more frozen, players will soon lose the Yaxing of playing cards.
There have also been many people who have tried to use jadeite and fine jade to make mahjong, although these mahjong seem to be exquisite, but they are easy to break, if they fall on the ground or play cards too hard, it is easy to cause the cards to break.
Therefore, most of the nobles of the imperial palace use high-grade wood to make mahjong, these woods are more corrosion-resistant, mahjong is not easy to damage, Puyi's royal mahjong is made of ebony.
Puyi's pair of mahjong was difficult for many people in the production process, because Puyi told the officials who made mahjong to be sure to engrave patterns on mahjong and ensure the consistency of these patterns.
This requirement really overwhelmed the craftsmen who made it, and in order to ensure that there would be no flaws in the production, the craftsmen made as many as a thousand pieces of mahjong, and then selected more than a hundred of these mahjong and combined them to give to Puyi.
It can be said that each of Puyi's mahjong is patiently carved and carefully selected to make, although this pair of mahjong is only a simple entertainment product, but due to the huge time and financial resources, this pair of mahjong gives a unique artistic color, making it a priceless treasure.
So where did the remaining nine hundred or so pieces of mahjong end up? After the production and material selection were completed, the craftsmen destroyed the excess mahjong to prevent the appearance of replicas.
Lost overseas and eventually returned home
Puyi's royal mahjong will always accompany Puyi since its birth, even after the fall of the Qing Dynasty in 1912, the imperial palace nobles of the Qing Dynasty still live in the Forbidden City, puyi will also play mahjong in his spare time.
However, in 1924, Feng Yuxiang drove Puyi out of the Forbidden City, and Puyi later became the emperor of the puppet manchukuo, and the mahjong followed Puyi to the puppet manchukuo.
In 1945, after the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Puyi's puppet regime as a Japanese-backed puppet also collapsed, and Puyi's royal mahjong lost its whereabouts.
When the mahjong reappeared, it had been brought to Japan by the Japanese and eventually circulated to a publisher named Kyoichiro Noguchi.
Kyoichiro Noguchi is very fond of this pair of mahjong, but also very fond of playing mahjong, and even came to China to learn the rules of mahjong, he also set up a museum for this pair of mahjong after he returned, so that more people have the opportunity to see this exquisitely made mahjong.
Before Kyoichiro Noguchi died, he returned the mahjong to our country, allowing him to finally return to the embrace of his hometown after decades of loss.
According to expert estimates, the value of this pair of mahjong even exceeds 200 million yuan, which is definitely a treasure among cultural relics.
Mahjong today
If you only list mahjong as an entertainment product, it is a big mistake, and the chinese people's love for mahjong can be described as obsessive.
Many Chinese people like to play mahjong on the street or in mahjong halls in their rest and leisure time, and many even set up special bets as chips.
China's mahjong gameplay is also strange, everywhere has its own unique way of playing, often there will be such an interesting phenomenon, four people from all over the world sitting together to play mahjong need to smooth the rules for a long time to start playing.
This is enough to see that mahjong has a wide range of spread in China, the audience is large, and mahjong has even been taken overseas by many Chinese people, so that many foreigners have liked China's mahjong.
Many foreigners even went to China specifically to learn mahjong, if there is no language barrier, mahjong is likely to become a worldwide entertainment sport.
epilogue
After introducing Puyi's royal mahjong, everyone must have a full understanding of it, if you have the opportunity, you can go to the museum to see its style.
Mahjong is not only an entertainment product, but also a part of our traditional culture, we should inherit and actively promote mahjong, so that more people can experience its fun.
But remember, don't lose your mind, the fundamental meaning of mahjong is to enrich and entertain our lives, not to let our lives be occupied by mahjong, which is irresponsible for our families and our bodies.