The mahjong
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While Chu believes there’s nothing wrong with white people enjoying Asian culture - white Americans, including Jewish Americans, have a long history of playing mahjong - it bothers him when, like The Mahjong Line’s co-founders, they position themselves as the arbiters of what’s hip, and what they have to offer as better. The Mahjong Line’s “refresh” is a classic case of cultural appropriation that strips away this cultural, personal, and emotional significance. Along with Cantonese opera and other beautiful, old traditions, mahjong “anchored me to who I am.”
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Josephine Liang, 29, of London, says that if asked to close her eyes and summon a happy childhood memory, it would involve playing mahjong in a practice room for Cantonese opera, which she studied growing up. “It holds so much history both for a nation and a culture.” The game itself also has a deep, rich past, appearing in artwork and proverbs, Wu says.
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Kim Richards, 36, of Bristol, tells Mic about inheriting her grandfather’s set from her mother, who taught her how to play. Knowledge of the game, as well as the sets, often gets passed down from generation to generation. “We’re talking about legacies here,” says Karlie Wu, 25, of Glasgow. “It stings, and it’s traumatic because of the history.”įor East and Southeast Asian community members, mahjong is so much more than a game - it's a symbol of family unity and an integral part of their identity. “To me it’s just like the kids who were made fun of for eating kimchi or chicken feet or whatever, and then 20 years later they see someone who didn’t have that same experience profiting and commoditizing those items,” Chu says. "I am, however, opposed to labeling the entire cuisine of a sprawling, diverse country as 'unhealthy' and suggesting that the half-million people of Chinese descent living in New York have all been waddling around, bloated and puffy-eyed, waiting for a white wellness savior."Ĭhu points out the uncomfortable irony of benefiting from a culture without needing to deal with the racism experienced by those who belong to it. "I'm personally not opposed to people cooking the food of a culture to which they don’t belong," Fegan says. We saw this last year with white "health coach"-turned-restauranteur Arielle Haspel’s opening of Lucky Lee, a “clean” Chinese restaurant in New York City - in contrast to those that make diners “feel bloated and icky the next day.” This type of "revamp" goes beyond appropriation, as writer MacKenzie Fegan points out in her VICE story on the launch. Many of the photos on their company’s Instagram, removed but immortalized in screenshots, show what look like mostly affluent white women.Ĭhu and other members of the East and Southeast Asian community Mic interviewed criticize the Mahjong Line sets - which sell upwards of $325 - as the latest incident in a long, painful history of companies whitewashing and profiting from Asian culture without proper credit or compensation. They replaced the characters and symbols that adorn traditional tiles with flowers, bubbles, palm trees, and other kitschy images. Kate LaGere, Annie O’Grady, and Bianca Watson, co-founders of the Mahjong Line, had sought to give the game, which dates back to the Qing Dynasty in China, a “respectful refresh," according to the company’s “About Us” page, which now features only an apology, also posted on its Instagram account on Tuesday following intense backlash. Those memories made learning about a Dallas-based company’s offensive take on mahjong that much more hurtful. “Any tie that I have to cultural heritage, any sense of something that’s been given to me by my family, it’s tied up very deeply in those memories.”
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It was there that his family would gather during summers and holidays, seated around the table playing mahjong. “The one space where I felt a direct connection to a distinctly Chinese heritage was in my grandma's kitchen,” says Chu, now in his early 30s and living in Los Angeles. Jason Chu recalls growing up “very American,” surrounded by Legos, Star Wars, and soccer.