Take a stroll through any Chinese city park or garden, and chances are you will stumble across a group of elderly people playing and shuffling tiles. This is mahjong, a 19th-century game played with a set of 144 tiles based on Chinese characters and symbols.
Contested by four players, mahjong and its regional variants are widely played throughout East and Southeast Asia, and have even become popular in Western countries. Despite being banned during the Cultural Revolution from 1966–1976, the game is a popular pastime in China and other Chinese-speaking communities.
The swinging fortunes of mahjong are reflected in its production, too. Mahjong sets used to be made by hand and were a source of income for many. After the 1980s, the manual process was gradually replaced by machines that offered low costs and high efficiency. Electronic mahjong tables that automatically shuffled and stacked tiles appeared in the late 1990s, and further weakened the need for traditional craftsmanship.
But one man in Hong Kong continues to make mahjong sets by hand even today. Cheung Shun-king is the 74-year-old proprietor of the Biu Kee Mahjong shop on Jordan Road, and the third generation in his family to helm the business that started in the mid-1960s.
Cheung began his apprenticeship as a teenager after he graduated from secondary school and was asked to help with the family business. He recalled how even three or four decades ago, business was thriving, so much so that they needed to outsource jobs to other carvers. The family was successfully running four stores at one point, but all of them closed except the one on Jordan Road.
Today, Cheung is among a handful of mahjong artisans in Hong Kong who continue to keep the handcrafted tradition alive. Another prominent craftsperson is Karen Aruba, who launched Karen Aruba Art in 2016 to design and create mahjong sets in the hopes of reviving interest in this intangible cultural heritage; and Ho Sau-mai, who runs her own business, Kam Fat Mahjong, in the Hung Hom area.
Cheung uses three main tools to carve out the different patterns on the tiles. First, using a utensil that resembles a set of compasses, he carves out a bamboo pattern using the edge of the tile as a lever. His next tool, which looks like a small bow and arrow, moves up and down with the teeth on the bottom to etch out a circle pattern. Finally, he uses a knife to engrave the Chinese characters and make final adjustments to the other patterns. It can take up to five days to complete one set.
Today, a full set of hand-carved tiles can cost HKD 5,500 (approximately INR 61,000), whereas machine-carved ones are around HKD 200 (approximately INR 2,200). Cheung reaches out to people on the shop’s Facebook page, with foreigners making up 40 per cent of clients. Many of his customers buy sets as souvenirs and often request customised images.
Cheung says that he has no plans for his children to take over the craft or continue his business if his store closes. The rising costs and low demand have made it nearly impossible to sustain the profession. Furthermore, learning the skill isn’t something one can pick up in a matter of months. According to Cheung, it would take two to three years to master the skill completely.
For now, at least, Biu Kee Mahjong remains open to tourists and locals looking to take back a piece of handcrafted tradition with them.
