hand carved

Marine Creatures Seen Anew

Kuan Yin • March 18, 2016

On this Shanghai Luck set, the Dots are crabs.

Today we are very lucky to have guest contributor Dr. Arjan Gittenberger. Arjan is a Marine Biologist, based in the Netherlands, and he is a mahjong enthusiast. Given his interest in marine life, he was perusing some of the posts on this website featuring Flower tiles with sea creatures. He wrote me this fascinating email, which he kindly agreed to have turned into a post. I think you will be amazed both by the descriptions of the marine life and the skill of the carvers.

Hi Gregg,

We run a company focusing specifically on questions where species identification in the marine environment is of the uttermost importance (mostly marine invasive species related projects). Although I have never been diving or working in Chinese seas I’ve worked for quite some years in the NW Pacific in the waters surrounding Indonesia, Japan, Thailand, Malaysia, etc…

Evidentially I find the Mah-jong tiles showing sea-creatures very interesting and I’m actually amazed about the details that are visible on the drawings. Looking at your posts about sea creatures on tiles I noticed some details that you may find interesting (and may already know), but which you don’t mention in these posts:

* First the “Shanghai Luck set”:… I assume that it doesn’t simply show sea-creatures. It in fact illustrates the Shanghai cuisine, the youngest among the ten major cuisines in China with a history of more than 400 years, becoming especially popular when Shanghai became a major domestic and international trading port in the later part of the 19^th century. The most famous dishes of the Shanghai cuisine concern the Chinese mitten crab (hairy crab) and a dish with “shrimp with colorful vegetables”. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_cuisine#History

* Looking at the crabs illustrated on the tiles of the “Shanghai Luck set” and in other sets illustrated in your posts on crabs on tiles, you can in fact notice several morphological characters that are diagnostic for the Chinese mitten crab (Eriocheir sinensis):

First, on many of the tiles I found illustrated on the internet the brown/reddish fur-like hairs on the claws, and the white “claw tips”, are clearly visible. There are only a few species of crabs worldwide that have such claws with hairs and white claw tips. A second morphological character that is used for identifying crabs concerns the pattern on its back. These patterns are very crab species specific. As can for example be seen on this Wikipedia picture of the Chinese mitten crab

( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:EriocheirSinensis1.jpg ) , this crab species has “H” pattern on its back (not present in other crab species), which in fact looks like a square if you look at it from a bit more of a distance from a different angle. In the drawings of crabs on mah-jong tiles you had already noticed that this “H”-like pattern is often engraved on the back of these crabs. A final detail that is only visible on the One Dot crab illustrated on your website (“Shanghai Luck set”), is the number of “spines” in between the eyes of the crab. This number is again very species specific. There are crab species with “in between the eyes” no spines, three spines, five spines, etc…. The Chinese mitten crab (Eriocheir sinensis) has four spines between the eyes, which is also the exact number of spines between the eyes visible on the One Dot. The carver of this tile in fact appears to be aware of all of the above mentioned diagnostic characters, i.e. the illustrated crab has white claw tips, followed by a zone of brownish hairs on the claws, four spines between the eyes, and a H-like pattern on its back.

Concerning the habitat of the Chinese mitten crab… On your post about a tile with a fish and a crab on it (The Fish in Chinese Art and Mahjong Part 2), you indicate that the fish is probably “a sturgeon, a type of fish treasured by the Chinese, which is unusual in that it lives in both fresh and salt water, although on this tile you can see the artist clearly intended this to be salt water, given the presence of the crab.”….
I agree with you that the fish is probably a sturgeon. The crab does not indicate that the artist intended this to be salt water however… The red claws of the crab probably indicate that this crab again concerns the Chinese mitten crab. Just like the sturgeon, the Chinese mitten crab is unusual, as one of the only crab species worldwide that does this, in that it lives in both fresh and salt water. Most of it life Chinese mitten crabs live in fresh water many miles land inwards, but for their reproduction (when the crab is ~2-3 years old) they travel back to the sea. This often happens once per year during which up to thousands of 10-20 cm large hairy crabs may start their trip together at the same time over many miles towards back the sea to reproduce (after which most die and the young swim stream upwards into the fresh water again). To reach the sea they sometimes come out of the rivers/streams and even continue their way over land ( sometimes causing traffic jams, panic, etc. ). In conclusion it is probably not a coincidence that this crab is illustrated together with a sturgeon on the same tile, as they both have the unusual freshwater/marine lifecycle.

In your first post about sea creatures (December 24) you also illustrate a beautiful tile with “a crab on it next to rocks and grasses growing at the bottom of the sea”. The hairy claws and the H on its back in fact illustrate that this again should be considered a Chinese mitten crab. This crab is clearly shown in its fresh water habitat as the grasses on the tile probably concern a freshwater cane species, possibly “ Miscanthus sinensis ”

( see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miscanthus_sinensis ).

Finally concerning the tile with a fish and to the left of it a strange creature. You indicate that this may be some kind of jelly fish. I agree. As you probably noticed the strange thing about this picture is that, if it is a jellyfish, it is drawn upside down… To my believe it is in fact the “upside down jellyfish”, Cassiopea andromeda. This is a well-known common species in China/the NW Pacific as it occurs in mashes and mangroves where also most of the crab and shrimp fisheries took/take place. This unique species lies upside down on the bottom with its tentacles sticking up, mimicking sea-grass. When mangrove fishes get scared away by a predator, they tend to flee into the sea-grass to hide… When they make the mistake of fleeing into the tentacles of this upside-down jellyfish they get stung, die and get eaten. Possibly this behaviour is what is being illustrated on the mah-jong tile.
Although I haven’t found any specific references about Cassiopea andromeda, this species belongs to the jellyfish Order Rhizostomae from which many species are prepared in various dishes (e.g. within the Shanghai cuisine). As this jellyfish lies in shallow water on the bottom in mangroves, I can imagine that it is relatively easy to collect, and crab/shrimp fishermen would take them along ☺

Best,

Arjan

A picture I took myself in Indonesia of the upside down jellyfish illustrating how the tentacles mimic sea-grass. The young/smaller individuals of this species, look more like the picture on the Mahjong tile, including the stripes/dots pattern.

Here's Gregg again: Isn't it remarkable how much can be learned about the world by looking at mahjong tiles? Not only does playing the game keep us mentally sharp and flexible, and provide opportunities to develop friendships, but it can help us gain more knowledge about different cultures, art and design, and now marine life! Thank you, Arjan for this extra bit of appreciation for our beloved Mahjong tiles.

Happy Year of the Monkey!

Kuan Yin • February 8, 2016

This darling monkey is one of the 12 signs found on a set of charming Mahjong racks made in Asia. The small pieces of bone are inserted into the wood rack and the wood is painted black.

And above are tiles sitting on that rack with the year 2016, led off by a Flower with an image of the Monkey King, Sun Wukong, a beloved character in Chinese stories. He is a major player in the novel Journey to the West. The Monkey King often appears on Chinese Bakelite tiles; this is the only set I have seen (that I can remember, anyway!) with this character on bone and bamboo tiles.

Sun Wukong frequently appears in Chinese operas, as you can see below, in a photo taken from Wikipedia.

I went to a Chinese New Year luncheon the other day, and I was just the lucky winner of Neil Somerville's Your Chinese Horoscope 2016, subtitled: What the Year of the Monkey holds in store for you.

Here is some of what he has to say:

..."throughout the year world leaders will frequently confer and in some cases put past animosities behind them and forge new alliances. ..The United States celebrated the start of its nationhood in 1776, a previous year of the Fire Monkey, and in this one, much attention will be focused on the Presidential election. There will be great debate over the direction of domestic and foreign policy as well as increasing focus on American identity, and the campaign will be passionately fought, with some issues proving divisive and sometimes even causing rifts between party supporters."

Well, I won't do any more excerpts, but he certainly has a lot of this right, at least as far as the current political situation in the States is concerned.

I thought it fun to add this photo of monkeys from the 1920s, I believe, at the mahjong table. I highly doubt they played the game, but they probably enjoyed the tiles. In this Year of the Monkey, let's hope for some good times around the mahjong table, playing a game rich with possibilities, strategy and luck, intersperced with great merriment and camaraderie.

Fox Sunshine Comedies produced a short showing chimpanzees playing the game, with a photo featured in Photoplay magazine.

Thought you might laugh about the background I picked for the "photoshoot." I found something red, a good luck color. And yes, the book was upside down, but doesn't this look like a monkey?

And if any of you want to read about the Monkey King, here is the article in Wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_Wukong

Happy 2016

Kuan Yin • January 1, 2016

Friend and blog reader Cari took this lovely photo the other day of the National Mah Jongg League's 2015 hand. It calls for 2 Flowers, followed by the year repeated three times in the three suits. In all hands calling for a zero, the White Dragon is used. What is wonderful about this hand is that many of the most special tiles, the Ones, and the Flowers are used, and often the White Dragon is quite lovely too.

So, I thought it would be fun to celebrate 2016 showing the great variety of styles and images on Mahjong sets. A big thanks to the readers who took photos and sent them in, including Barney, Tracy, Geraldine, Debra, Gail and Cari, as well as the others. We have a delightful array of sets, showing the great variety of ways designers and craftsmen have added beauty to this fabulous game, ranging from paper cards, to wood, to bakelite, Chinese Bakelite, bone and bamboo, and mother-of-pearl. All of these sets are treasured by their owners, and all have brought great happiness to the players around the table. What better way to celebrate the new year than by looking at art that has made people happy?

A mass-produced and highly collectible Chinese Bakelite set with unusual Flowers and Bams

A Lung Chan set, with two tone (blue) backs. Lung Chan features a suite of bird Flowers.

The tiles in the middle feature mother-of-pearl faces set in wood

Delightful Bone and Bamboo set with animal Flowers

from back to front: Waterbury Button Company, Marke Pehafra, rare Chinese Bakelite two-tone pillow-top set

The following eight contributions belong to one collector:

children's Royal Depth Control traveling set

TYL two-tone Bakelite set from the 1940s (backs are chocolate-brown)

Beautiful Thick Bone and Bamboo tiles, Peach (longevity) Dots with One Dot encircling a coiled Dragon, different longevity symbols on Craks with Bank-style Chinese numbers, Bamboo shoot Bams with hovering hawk symbolizing China's strength

Chinese Game Company with special Dragons

The wonderful variety of mahjong sets, including paper cards, wood, and Portland Billiard Company (the first set behind the front cards)

beautiful sloping circles, label unknown

Red MJ — highly carved set featuring crane (longevity) Dots, peacock Bams, and Craks with bats (longevity and prosperity) on the sides

Magnificent Bone and Bamboo set with lacquer box

Here's a close-up of the Craks suit from this hand. If you look carefully, you can see peaches on the top and bottom. Peaches are symbols of longevity in China. And on the left and right there are bats, also symbols of longevity, but because of the way the Chinese word for bat is pronounced, the bat also symbolizes prosperity. Dragonflies, seen on the White Dragon, represent pureness of character according to Confucian ideals.

So let us hope that 2016 is a year of longevity, prosperity, and pureness of character.

2016 in Mahjong tiles

Kuan Yin • December 28, 2015

Recently a friend took a beautiful photo of mahjong tiles "spelling out" 2016, in the NMJL way of play which asks for 2 Flowers, followed by 2 1 and 6 of each suit , allowing the White Dragon to serve as zero. (In The National Mah Jongg League way of play the White Dragon is the zero when "spelling" out the year.) It is a wonderful "hand" showing some of the best tiles in each set.

I thought it would be fun to have readers send in their favorite sets "spelling" this out too. So, if you can, please take photos starting with 2 Flowers, then the Dots, Bams and Craks, and email them in to me.They will be part of the New Year's Mahjong Treasures post. I will not share your identity unless you want me to. If there is a story to the set, I'd love for you to share it with me and I will include it here as well as on the facebook group Mahjong Memories. Please become a member of that group if you like.

The top set is a lovely Chinese bakelite one, with beautiful unusual Flowers, the One Bam hawk over the globe, and the frame White Dragon. The One Bams resemble both golf tees and flat-head screws.

The bottom set is Lung Chan, known for its lovely suite of bird Flowers, two of which are seen here. The tiles are two-tone with a lovely blue on the bottom.

Mahjong is “for the Birds” Part 1

Kuan Yin • December 25, 2015

If anyone tells you "Mahjong is for the birds," you might respond "How right you are! Mahjong is and has always been about the birds." The game was named the game of sparrows, because of the noise of the tiles on the table. And, almost from the beginning, designers and carvers knew that beautiful bird One Bams could be the selling point for sets. That is why only the best carvers made the One Bams, and the Flowers. The workshop that produced this bone and bamboo Mahjong set certainly had very skilled carvers. The suits are elaborate, with a somewhat simple flying peacock One Bam.

But oh, these Flowers:

One of my friends is a serious birder, and she helped with some of the bird identifications, although she said that some liberties had been taken with the renderings. But here are what she thinks the birds are:

top row

#3 parrot

#2 heron, ibis or stork

bottom:

#1 dollar bird or hawk based on flat head and the way it is sitting

Anyone else have any ideas?

There's a new ebook with this title, Mahjong is for the Birds, one that helps people to identify vintage plastic sets and get an understanding about their relative value. You can find it at www.mahjongmahjong.com

A Short Celebration of Celebrities on Mahjong Tiles!

Kuan Yin • September 20, 2015

We all know how wild people can be about their favorite stars, whether people on the stage and screen or sports stars on the field or the court. Things were not so very different for mahjong carvers backs in China in the 1920s and 1930s; the cult of celebrities existed even back then. The carvers were spreading political messages and giving publicity to some of their favorite stars.

Above are some of the most delightful Mahjong tiles I have ever seen. Fairies and ballet dancers– what could be more charming?

Interestingly, there are messages on the tiles. The top row translates to mean "women's liberty" (thank you, Ray) so perhaps a hope for equal rights for women, dating from the 1930s in all probability.

The bottom row is quite fascinating as well. It celebrates a particular Chinese actress. The tiles translate as :

Bottom row are 舞影明星, Wu Yin Ming Xing, "A film and dance celebrity". Thanks to additional help by another friend, we know who that is: Wu Yin was also known as Yan Ying, and she was an actress working for the Mingxing film company in the 1930s. From Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wu_Yin_(actress)

One of the movies she acted in details some of the troubles of being a young modern woman, so the Women's liberty translations might well tie in directly with the bottom row of tiles. New Women features scenes in a dance hall, so perhaps it is not surprising that we have dancers shown.

From Wikipedia, Wu Yin. Her life was quite interesting, and she really proved herself to be a survivor.

And other actors are celebrated on other hand-carved Mahjong tiles as well. Here on a Bone and Bamboo set, probably from the early 1920s, we see four images.

From Ray Heaton:

I'm pretty sure one set is Qin Qiong mai ma 秦瓊賣馬 (‘Qin Qiong sells his horse’)

Qin Qiong (also known as Qin Shubao 秦叔寶), spent his early career fighting to overthrow the Sui dynasty. He eventually rose to become a general in the early Tang and continued to be honoured by the emperor after he died in 638. He was also an important figure in much later works of historical fiction. The opera 'Selling the Horse' is centred on a situation in which the great hero finds himself stranded without money to pay his bill at an inn and is forced to sell his horse. Because he has been ill and unable to care for it properly, the horse is emaciated, and he is unable to find a buyer until a perceptive man named Shan Xiongxin 單雄信 recognizes the quality of the steed. But before the deal is consummated, Shan receives word that his brother has been shot by the Tang founder, Li Yuan 李淵. Qin allows Shan to race off on his horse without paying. The only things of value the Qin has left are his prized weapons, a pair of heavy riding-crop-like rods that are used like maces for clubbing or whacking (they are called shuangjian 雙簡 in Chinese). Two other heroes of the age who are Qin’s admirers find him and get him out of his predicament.

Around the turn of the century (1900 that is), Tan Xinpei’s performance of the role of Qin Qiong in the opera of the same name as on the tiles, Qin Qiong Mai Ma, made him the equivalent of today’s mega-star. A saying of the time was that the people of Beijing had no time to concern themselves with the rise or fall of their country; everyone in the whole city was competing in shouting his stage name.

This photo from the Chinese Mirror

Here's an extract about the actor.

From Chinese Mirror

Tan Xinpei谭鑫培 (1847-1917) was born Tan Jinfu, a native of Jiangxia (now Wuchang), Hubei. In his earlier career, under the stage name Xiao Jiaotian, Tan specialized in both heroic and comic male military roles in Beijing (Peking) opera. As he entered middle age, he began transitioning to the older, bearded male characters known as "lao sheng" 老生, then formed his own company to implement and popularize a new performing style he had developed for years, a style which combined singing, speaking, acting and fighting in each individual performer, rather having each of these skills performed by individual specialists. This new approach, which became known as the "Tan School," soon became dominant in Beijing opera in the latter 19th century. In 1905, he collaborated with photographer Ren Qingtai to record excerpts from some of the actor's classic roles on film, making Tan Xinpei the first actor in China's motion picture history.

http://www.chinesemirror.com/index/2006/10/tan-xinpei-1847.html

From arts.cultural-china.com:

and

So the costumes were not so very different from what we have on many mahjong sets, right?

Perhaps this is the equivalent of what we have going on these days, with celebrities being featured in games, board games and card games alike.

Enjoy this trip down memory lane:

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/pictures/view/83091157/

And don't forget all those video games too!!

I am undertaking a new project involving the social history of the game. You can read about by clicking History Project at the top of the Page. Perhaps you would like to participate. I also have a group (not the page) on Facebook: Mahjong Memories.

For those of you who don't yet know, there is a wonderful magazine, The Mahjong Collector. A big round of applause for all who work so hard to publish it.

You can find out more by emailing them at this address:

subscriptions@mahjongcollector.com

To see when I am doing author appearances, click here

You can now follow me on Twitter!

@MahJonggGregg

To learn more about Mah Jongg, you might want to take a look at this book that I wrote with Ann Israel, published by Tuttle.

www.mahjonggtheartof thegame.com

To order it click here:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/mah-jongg-ann-israel/1118759459?ean=9784805313237

or here from Amazon

http://www.amazon.com/Mah-Jongg-Collectors-Guide-Tiles/dp/4805313234/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1414844427&sr=8-7&keywords=mah+jongg

Pips (added small dots) on Flower Tiles

Kuan Yin • August 15, 2015

This set was recently auctioned off on Liveauctioneers.com

You will quickly notice the lack of Western letters and Arabic numbers which indicate the set was not meant to be exported from China, but somehow or other it finally made its way out of China to the States.

If you look carefully at the Flower tiles, you'll see there are two sets of dots, one set is dark, and the other one red. Each set has tiles with 1, 2, 3, or 4 dots on them. Tiles like this show up from time to time. You may know that often Flower tiles have numbers on them, two sets of numbers in red and green, numbering from 1 to 4. These tiles have pips that represent the number associated with each tile. For many of us, the number on Flower tiles does not make a difference, but for others who play Hong Kong style, for example, these numbers do make a difference, because each player has a number associated with their seat; if they get the tile associated with their seat, they get an extra point in that game. So from time to time you'll see pips on tiles, and at other times Arabic numbers might be added. It is possible that this set has pips because the rest of the set does not have any Western letters or Arabic numbers, and pips are in keeping with the type of set it is. It is hard to tell from the photo but these pips may have been carved into the tile; sometimes pips and numbers are added in pen or pencil.

There are a few other interesting aspects to the set, proving that photographs can be deceiving. From the top photo it looks like a Chinese Bakelite set because of all the yellow tint. However it is actually French Ivory, as seen in these next photographs.

You can see the alternating colors on the tile, indicating it is French Ivory.

And the true color is probably closer to this:

The White Dragons, seen in the top photo, are pretty wonderful too.

I am undertaking a new project involving the social history of the game. You can read about by clicking History Project at the top of the Page. Perhaps you would like to participate.

For those of you who don't yet know, there is a wonderful magazine, The Mahjong Collector. You can find out more by emailing them at this address:

subscriptions@mahjongcollector.com

To see when I am doing author appearances, click here

You can now follow me on Twitter!

@MahJonggGregg

To learn more about Mah Jongg, you might want to take a look at this book that I wrote with Ann Israel, published by Tuttle.

www.mahjonggtheartof thegame.com

To order it click here:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/mah-jongg-ann-israel/1118759459?ean=9784805313237

or here from Amazon

http://www.amazon.com/Mah-Jongg-Collectors-Guide-Tiles/dp/4805313234/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1414844427&sr=8-7&keywords=mah+jongg

Happy 1st Full Day of Spring (Northern Hemisphere) 2015! Orchids!!

Kuan Yin • March 21, 2015

Most of us know that orchids are one of the plants associated with seasons in China. The orchid is often associated with spring. *

Every year the New York Botanical Garden does a fabulous display of orchids.

Here are a few some lovely photos taken from their website:

http://www.nybg.org/exhibitions/2015/orchid-show/index.php

Get to the show if you can.

Here follow a few orchids from Mahjong tiles;

top left:

four split Mahjong flower pots with butterfly

Always with a very delicate look to them, even though this tile was done by a German company, Ashton & Rietz.

And orchids painted by a Chinese artist:

You'll note that the delicacy of theMahjong tiles are not that dissimilar to this lovely ink drawing by Zheng Xie (Chinese, 1693–1765) in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum

*I am able to remember this fact when I think of "springing" to buy an orchid, that meaning of spring being the North American informal use of the word, indicating to pay for as a treat.

For those of you who don't yet know, there is a wonderful magazine, The Mahjong Collector. I am eagerly awaiting my copy.

You can find out more by emailing them at this address:

subscriptions@mahjongcollector.com

To see when I am doing author appearances, click here

You can now follow me on Twitter!

@MahJonggGregg

To learn more about Mah Jongg, you might want to take a look at this book that I wrote with Ann Israel, published by Tuttle.

www.mahjonggtheartof thegame.com

To order it click here:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/mah-jongg-ann-israel/1118759459?ean=9784805313237

or here from Amazon

http://www.amazon.com/Mah-Jongg-Collectors-Guide-Tiles/dp/4805313234/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1414844427&sr=8-7&keywords=mah+jongg

How to Know if your Mahjong Set is Hand-carved

Kuan Yin • January 22, 2015

Many people have written in asking how to tell if their Mahjong set is hand-carved.

It is a bit more complicated than you might think. But for purposes of this website we will consider hand-carved Mahjong anything that was not manufactured in bulk and has some human control over the images of the tiles.

Dee Gallo is an artist who has been able to figure out many of the lost techniques of the old Mahjong craftsmen. She designs and creates her own mahjong sets in addition to being able to copy or create tiles that are missing from other vintage sets. She writes in our book Mah Jongg The Art of the Game that once the game became really popular in the 1920s, craftsmen were not able to keep up with the demand and they had to shortcut their carving process. Bone tiles had images transferred to them with branding irons, perhaps making the tiles easier to carve. But I think people had to carve where it was branded, clean it up a bit, and painters always painted the tiles. If all of your tiles look exactly alike, you don't have a hand-carved set.

I would imagine a pantograph could be used on softer materials such as French Ivory and Chinese Bakelite, probably when the tiles were still soft:

From wikipedia:

"A pantograph (Greek roots παντ- "all, every" and γραφ- "to write", from their original use for copying writing) is a mechanical linkage connected in a manner based on parallelograms so that the movement of one pen, in tracing an image, produces identical movements in a second pen. If a line drawing is traced by the first point, an identical, enlarged, or miniaturized copy will be drawn by a pen fixed to the other. Using the same principle, different kinds of pantographs are used for other forms of duplication in areas such as sculpture, minting, engraving and milling."

From the Worlds of David Darling website:

You can see how following the lines of the bigger image can create lines on the smaller sized mahjong tile.

These are lovely French Ivory tiles made by Piroxloid. Although the color is off (sorry!) you can see that each tile is exactly the same. The C on the Red Dragon is perfect.

You can see a bit of shakiness to the lines. This tile would have been carved with a pantograph, especially given that this material is flammable!

These 5 Dots are obviously not done with a branding iron, at least not one that has all the Dots in the same place. You can see the spacing is different, but it is believed an iron would have been used for each Dot. I think the 5s were hand-carved given that there is variation.

From the same set, it looks like the Crak character was done with a branding machine as were the Chinese number 9s. The Arabic numbers look hand-carved because there are tiny differences.

These are from another set. The tiles look very similar to me, so perhaps a branding iron with all the information on it was used, including the numbers.

It is clear this set was hand-carved, at least the Craks were. The Wans are different shapes and sizes.

A wonderful Chinese Bakelite set that may have been hand-carved, possibly using a template of some sort. Certainly the claws of the bird are different in each, as are the chest feathers. The leaves are different too. And because of the hand carving each bird has a different expression. Be sure to notice the meanders around the outside ring of the One Dot and the abstract bats at the top and bottom of the White Dragon.

These phoenix may have also been hand-carved using a template. There are minor differences, giving each tile a unique look. The #1s were added by a later owner who needed to know these were the One Bams.

To see some of Dee Gallo's work, click here

To see when I am doing author appearances, click here

You can now follow me on Twitter!

@MahJonggGregg

To learn more about Mah Jongg, you might want to take a look at this book that I wrote with Ann Israel, published by Tuttle. To see more about it:

www.mahjonggtheartof thegame.com

To order it click here:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/mah-jongg-ann-israel/1118759459?ean=9784805313237

or here from Amazon

http://www.amazon.com/Mah-Jongg-Collectors-Guide-Tiles/dp/4805313234/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1414844427&sr=8-7&keywords=mah+jongg

Sea Creatures in Chinese Art and Mahjong

Kuan Yin • November 17, 2014

Qi Baishi, the Chinese artist who lived from 1867-1957, did this lovely scroll in 1950. It shows us five crabs (that number does keep reappearing, doesn't it?). This work is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum.

Here's what the catalog has to say about his work featuring crabs:

"Crabs became an important subject in Qi Baishi's painting after he moved into a new studio in 1913 and crabs frequented his backyard. He once observed, "When a crab moves, its legs rise and fall in strict order despite their great number. This is something crab painters in the world do not know." This work represents his mature style, when naturalism and abstraction found a new balance. The subtle gradation of the ink suggests the undulation of the shell's surface. The eyes have become two short slanting lines. The claws, as circular splotches of ink with two simple converging lines, are reduced to geometric abstraction. During the last forty years of his life Qi lived in Beijing and befriended people of radically different persuasions. His passive tolerance of things of which he might not approve shows in his sarcastic inscription to this painting, which reads: "I just fold my arms and watch you gentlemen go." The Chinese term for the sideways movement of crabs, hengxing, is also a metaphor for impudent behavior. Qi often humorously compared crabs to presumptuous people. Here, he states that he will simply stand aside and let these creatures have their way."

Of course the crab is symbolic in Chinese art. And once again it has to do with the way the Chinese word is pronounced.

From Primaltrek:

The Chinese word for crab (蟹) and the Chinese word for harmony (协) are both pronounced xie. The crab symbol is sometimes used on charms which express a desire for peace such as the large tian xia tai ping (天下太平) charm shown at Peace Coins and Charms.

The crab is also used to symbolize success in the imperial examination system. This is because the Chinese word for the crab's shell (jia 甲) has the additional meaning of "first" as in achieving the highest score in the examination to become a government official.

Certainly we have seen many symbols wishing for success on exams, as these crabs might be doing. Doing well on Scholar's exams opened up the door for success to people outside the noble classes. Great grades could allow the student an important job in government, whereas failure would prevent any kind of government job.

Wonderful crabs appear on Mahjong tiles too.

These crabs are Dots in a Shanghai Luck Mahjong set

These three tiles are the One, Two and Three Dot tiles from a Shanghai Luck Set, called that because of the presence of sea creatures. I love the way the crabs are shown, legs going in a few different directions, the eyes popping out, and the great attention paid to the claws on the One Dot. Can't you just see them skittering across the mahjong table? Maybe when one plays with one of these sets is can be the Game of Skittering Crabs in stead of The Game of Sparrows!!

Here is another crab from a different set of Flower tiles. You'll notice he too has the mark on the top of his shell, just like the ones on the One and Two Dot tiles above.

Reader Bill provided us with these wonderful Flower tiles some of you remember from before. The crab certainly is quite recognizable, on the right tile, but what is the left creature?

Perhaps it is some kind of jelly fish?

There is a Asian fascination with jelly fish, and they frequently appear in aquarium tanks, and anyone who has had the delightful experience of seeing these creatures from afar can certainly enjoy their great beauty.