More so than any other city or province
in China, Sichuan is famous for its relaxed lifestyle
and the games played during the leisure time for its
residents - sometimes, its 24/7 for many "retired"
residents.
Aside for being famous for its delicious
and spicy food, Sichuan is known as the province for
two favorite leisure time games: Mah Jong, and DouDiZhu
(a card game roughly translated as "fight the
landlord"). Sure, Mah Jong is a Chinese game
enjoyed all over China and probably all over the world,
but this is a game that's played by Szechuan residents
24/7. Probably everyone knows how to play this game
in Szechwan.
Everywhere you go, you will find
people playing Mahjong - on the streets, in teahouses,
in Mahjong houses, and at home, and everyone gambles
when playing Mah Jong, whether its for fun, or for
some serious cash. You're not likely to find a Mah
Jong game where money isn't involved. I'm really not
a good player. I only play with my family when I'm
there, and that's almost everyday. We usually played
$2 yuan per card, so winnings and losses were always
a small amount.
I thought this was an interesting photo to take
- 3 young kids playing Mahjong on a street side
in a farming community.
The thing foreigners, and even some
Chinese people will find fascinating about Szechwan
Mahjong is that it only uses two suits, and does not
use any of the directions, winds, and flowers cards.
A sichuan Mah Jong game only uses the bamboo and circle
suits. From what I was told, it seems that people
got tired of dealing with so many suits and different
cards, so at first, they removed all the winds, directions,
and flower cards. Later on, people wanted a even simpler
and faster game, and they removed the Wan (ten thousand)
suit altogether, so all that's left are the bamboo
and circle suits. So if you ever purchase a Mah Jong
set in Sichuan, don't be surprised to only find two
suits of cards in the deck!
A photo taken during Chinese new year in my uncle's
home. In the front, you see my family playing Sichuan
style Mahjong, and far in the back ground by the
window, 3 of them are playing DouDiZhu card game.
It's certainly a relaxed life style.
The other extremely popular game
is Dou Di Zhu, or translated roughly as "fight
the landlord". Basically, it's a card game somewhat
similar to Big 2, but with some major differences,
where one player is the landlord, and the other 2
players are teamed up to "fight the landlord".
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