On Feb 20, 12:19 pm, pa...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
wrote:
> In researching mahjong history I sometimes come across religious or
> political references to anti-gambling. For example, the Taiping
> prohibited gambling,
Taiping prohibition on gambling would weaken your hypothesis for
mahjong to originated around that time, Dan?
And if the game had been the product of the period, during the time of
prohibition, why would the game designer choose money-symbols which
were in fact saying mahjong was gambling.
So, it looks like either the game was not a Taiping product or the
symbols in mahjong were not Cash originally.
+++++++
although I do not have source material listing
> what types of gambling were common, nor the punishments if caught.
I know Fan-Tan has always been a popular type of gambling. People bet
against a banker at a guessing game. The banker counts a handful of
beans, 4 beans at a time. The remainder, after multiples of 4's
removed, could be , 2, 3, even 4. The betting can be big and game has
excitement while the pace in moderate. Also some betting techniques
can be exercised for different risks and rewards. Dice is too simple
and quick. Tien-Qow is slower.
Mahjong is not considered serious gambling even now in terms of money.
It is far too slow to win a few dollars. It is more a waste of time.
It suits people who are unemployed or the privileged with time to
waste.
The People's Republic of China imposed prohibition on all gambling.
The history and present status should be available.
>[..]
>
> While I play MJ for fun and have never gambled with it,
That is what people generally do. They play for gun with small amounts
of money. Win or lose is part of the fun and game. Just think about
it. Look at the mahjong activities in all the households in Hong Kong
for instance. Do those people have that much money to gamble? They
mostly play for fun.
+++++++
I do
> understand that gambling is often associated with MJ. I am interested
> in learning more about the association of gambling and MJ, as well as
> what punishments were administered to those caught gambling. I would
> appreciate any source material giving information on prohibitions on
> gambling, especially if specifically referencing MJ.
>
As I said. Mahjong was never serious gambling, as I know it.
> To get started, here is a quote from Philip Snow's book "The Fall of
> Hong Kong: Britain, China and the Japanese Occupation" p. 164:
>
> "In May 1942 they [the Japanese Kempeitai] were given the task of
> enforcing the crackdown on gambling which the regime had launched as
> part of its short-lived effort to clip the wings of the Triads. They
> set about this assignment with some inventiveness. Sometimes they
> simply contented themselves with propelling gamblers from their homes
> and making them kneel by the roadside for 'the amusement of other
> pedestrians'. On one occasion, however, catching a party deep in a
> game of mah-jong, they grabbed the players and forced them to swallow
> the tiles one by one until they choked to death."
>
That was war-time atrocity. It was a sadistic act by some Japanese
soldiers in a cruel mood.
They committed criminal acts during that time. Some I witnessed
myself.
That was bad public relation and poor military strategy on the part of
Japanese occupiers. When people were occupied with playing mahjong,
they wouldn't be plotting danger to their enemy. Why antagonize them?
> The footnote to the last sentence gives the source for this
> information as Hong Kong News, 11 May 1942; Tse, Zhan**** Ri jun, p.
> 206.
>
> Dan
++++++++++
Cheers.....al
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