My memories as a player and teacher

Wang Zhuangfei/For China Daily

When I walked into the courtyard in Shique hutong last Sunday morning, there were already two tables of foreign players. But a table still needed the last one to start the game - it's a four-player game. Without any hesitation, I was in.

A Chinese teacher of the beginners' workshop spent about one hour explaining the culture and basic rules. And they couldn't wait to plunging themselves into practicing it.

It was the first time for us to meet. But the distance between strangers quickly disappeared when the battle went to climax. We talked with each other, discussed the basic rules and got excited when one was to win.

Hey, the young guy from Cambridge University won the first round in front of me! It was his first round of playing mahjong in his lifetime. And I knew how to play at the age of six.

Well, I only had to say that he must wear his lucky jacket to get the needed tile. In fact, to win the game sometimes depends largely on one's luck instead of skills.

I recalled when I was in Shanghai in 2011, I was once asked by several foreign students from London School of Economics and Political Science to teach them to play mahjong. When we played together, I lost, too. See, it was all a matter of luck.

At that time, I just spent less than half an hour to explain the symbols and basic rules. All the problems were easily answered by playing it. Do you know how I learned mahjong at 6? I taught myself by watching my mother play with her friends every evening.

In China, playing mahjong is as easy as having meals. But attention! What I mean is the very basic rules of mahjong. Rules vary in different cities. The city just 30km away from my hometown has totally different rules from those in my hometown.

In big cities like Beijing where people always come from various places, we have to make rules first before we start playing it. Sometimes the discussion continues for hours on what rules we should obey since we all want to follow our hometown's rules. Once rules are settled, everyone is happily enjoying it and time seems to pass very quickly.

During my playing mahjong with foreign beginners in Shique hutong, a handsome guy from UC Berkley came in and wanted to join us - he was late for the workshop. But nobody wanted to stop and wait for him to know the rules. The Berkley guy left, saying "I thought you would play until night". Sorry, we're beginners, not those mahjong-a-holic often seen in local mahjong houses.