Here's What the Mahjong Controversy Can Teach Us About Cultural Appropriation

We explain the Mahjong Line controversy, and why many are disillusioned at the release of the very dear Mahjong board sport redesign.

It’s early in the year, however we’re already drained. As an astute internet consumer put it, "We’ve experienced the trial version of 2021 and we’d like to cancel our subscription." While most of the people began the 12 months hopeful, everyone soon discovered that 2021 used to be only a continuation of 2020, and many are already saying they’re taking a look ahead to 2022. 

But perhaps few have had as rocky a begin to the new yr as the founders of Dallas-based corporate the Mahjong Line. Within the first few days of 2021, the corporate was called out for its tone-deaf, problematic appropriation of the centuries-old Chinese sport Mahjong. 

So, what precisely is the Mahjong controversy about? Keep scrolling for a whole run-down.

What used to be the Mahjong controversy of 2021?

A Dallas-based corporate referred to as the Mahjong Line recently started to obtain online complaint for its attempts to redesign the Chinese tile sport of Mahjong. Writer Kathy Khang used to be one in every of the first to indicate the “textbook example of #culturalappropriation” happening at the Mahjong Line with her tweet that puzzled why four white ladies felt it was once OK to colonize the liked recreation.

According to the Mahjong Line's About Us page, which has changed since the initial free up, the impetus for the redesign came when corporate co-founder, Kate LaGere, tried to buy her first Mahjong set however felt the “traditional tiles, while beautiful,” didn't replicate her personal “style and personality.” 

Together with her “Mahjong partners in crime,” Annie O'Grady and Bianca Watson, the 3 pals got down to redesign the tiles to mirror their own “distinctive private taste,” giving the recreation “a contemporary makeover as playable artistic endeavors.”

Along with the insulting advice that the Mahjong Line by some means stepped forward on the sport with their designs, the company was also called out for neglecting to acknowledge Mahjong’s cultural origins. 

In a piece that used to be titled "American vs. Chinese Mahjong," the website online claimed that Mahjong used to be presented to the American marketplace via an American businessman after a travel to China. After it came to the U.S., the site claimed, the recreation advanced into something "distinctly American."

Now, whilst Mahjong is undoubtedly Chinese in foundation, it is these days an admittedly world recreation that has taken on a multiplicity of cultural identities. But whilst American Mahjong was popularized in the Nineteen Twenties, it’s vital to note the backdrop of anti-Asian racism and colonialism that used to be prevalent at the time. 

While white Americans were occupied with a recreation that had roots in ancient China, they distanced themselves from precise Asian-Americans. Asian-American immigrants have been discriminated against and topic to anti-Asian attitudes and law, all while white marketers profited from aspects of Chinese culture that they saw as valuable. 

It used to be probably not the Mahjong Line's intention to be tone-deaf, but the connection between the lack of information and erasure of Chinese-American tradition in the early twentieth century and this company’s movements in present-day can’t simply be neglected. 

The implication that Kate, Annie, and Bianca are the first to make a Mahjong set that is aesthetically beautiful is a tad tasteless. To add further insult to damage, the Mahjong Line’s sets retail between $325 and $425 a set, two to four times the quantity a customized Mahjong set from a reputed tile-maker would be.

An afternoon after the public backlash the Mahjong Line released a remark and up to date their About Us page, apologizing for his or her cultural insensitivity. 

“While our intent is to inspire and have interaction with a new era of American mahjong players,” they stated, “we acknowledge our failure to pay right kind homage to the sport's Chinese heritage. Using words like 'refresh' have been hurtful to many and we are deeply sorry.”

The founders stressed out that that they had nothing but “pure intentions and a shared love of the recreation.” They finish their apology with a promise to “[proceed] conversations with those that can supply additional insight to the recreation's traditions and roots in each Chinese and American cultures.”

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