Learned Members of Hong Kong Society
October 5, 2016 11:53 AM   Subscribe

Mahjong! Mahjong! Students mystified at midnight, busted for playing mah jong in a common outdoor area. Apparently take out is controversial as well.
posted by Oyéah (18 comments total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
I've seen Fat Choi Spirit. I wouldn't want those bastards playing outside my dorm room at midnight either.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 12:11 PM on October 5, 2016


“If students play mahjong, write graffiti on buildings or have hotpot meals anywhere and at any time, they might one day even carry out disreputable acts,’’ he wrote.

I'm giving this the benefit of translation doubt, since I'm not sure how you draw the line from "playing a game or eating anywhere at any time" to "disreputable acts" but the line from "graffiti" to "disreputable acts" is more of a dot where they intersect.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 12:25 PM on October 5, 2016


I'm also interested in the role of hot pot in all this.
posted by quaking fajita at 12:33 PM on October 5, 2016 [8 favorites]


Mahjong is pretty commonly a gambling game as far as I know - not sure that's what was actually going on here but that's probably why it's disreputable.
posted by atoxyl at 12:40 PM on October 5, 2016 [3 favorites]


I feel like this post is maybe missing some context that might be entirely clear to those of use who aren't from Hong Kong (and surrounding areas).

I vaguely understand the link between mahjong and gambling (another South China Morning Post article). And the link between gambling and "disreputable acts" seems pretty clear.

I'm sure there's something similar for hot pot, especially since my experience with hot pot (in North America) is that you go to a "hot pot" restaurant to get it (Twin Cities recommendation), and I could see hot pot places being something akin to pool halls, or [insert entertainment place with generally skeevy reputation] in somebody's head.

Anyways, I wonder how this article is read in Hong Kong in light of what I understand* to be current grumblings about the editorial direction of the SCMP of late.

*my understanding is 100% limited to hearing this NPR story on the way to work.
posted by sparklemotion at 12:41 PM on October 5, 2016 [1 favorite]


We got noodles, outdoors in our fair city. Noodles with a capital "N" and that rhymes with "M" and that stands for mahjong!
posted by good in a vacuum at 12:48 PM on October 5, 2016 [6 favorites]


I parsed that sentence so that "anywhere and at any time" modified the part about hot pots. That is, that the feckless youth are not keeping to a civilized schedule, but instead are staying up all night and eating hot pot at odd hours like a bunch of dirtbags.

Also, in addition to the gambling aspect, mahjong is very, very addictive. I've personally lost loved ones to mahjong*, so there's that aspect to it, too. Sort of how people complain about any sort of 'addictive' pastime.

* OK, not lost, but I have had people be late to stuff.
posted by ernielundquist at 1:01 PM on October 5, 2016 [6 favorites]


Yeah, 'anywhere and at any time' may possibly be better translated as 'wherever and at all hours', or something like that.

It's still something of an overreaction, though, to condemn people for something they might do one day.
posted by HypotheticalWoman at 1:39 PM on October 5, 2016 [1 favorite]


In East Asia, China especially, mahjong is a serious gambling game. Here in the USA it's got a reputation as something blue haired old ladies play, but over there it's generally something played for real money.

The administration is overreacting, but their reasons aren't wholly bad. People would probably object to a group of shady characters organizing poker or blackjack at night in college campuses too.
posted by sotonohito at 1:53 PM on October 5, 2016


I will say that the newly opened hotpot joint here (lots and lots and LOTS of East Asian students here and this restaurant is 100% catering to them, not anglos) much more closely resembles a bottle service bar than a restaurant. It's very... neon and lacquer. But that's as far as my "hot pot as the path to sin" knowledge goes.

But yeah, mahjong is gambling. That part I totally get. The hotpot somewhat loses me.
posted by soren_lorensen at 1:56 PM on October 5, 2016


They're mystified and they're busted
And they like to roam this land
They're mystified and they're busted
And I hope you rob this Kong
posted by fallingbadgers at 2:48 PM on October 5, 2016


my experience with hot pot (in North America) is that you go to a "hot pot" restaurant to get it

It's easy to do it at home. Set a hot plate at the middle of the dinner table. Add a big wok, fill with (flavoured) stock, let it boil. Surround this with plates of raw ingredients (veggies, tofu, thin slices of meat...). Dinner is served! Now you and your guests dip the raw ingredients in the stock and scoop them out to eat a few minutes later when they're cooked.

It's easy and tasty, a good excuse to sit around and have a long conversation while the pot bubbles.
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 2:53 PM on October 5, 2016


This is not really an article about mahjong-playing students. This article is part of a political campaign.

Students in HK over the past few years have been at the forefront of pro-democracy movements including the Umbrella Movement that closed down Central for a few weeks in 2014. These students have also been quite assertive about their identity as citizens of Hong Kong and not Mainland China.

The South China Morning Post has been undergoing a revolution of a different sort - the newsroom has been steadily changing character, losing many of its editors to be replaced by mainland journalists, and the paper itself (whilst always being fairly establishment) has become much more pro-Beijing.

So an article in the SCMP about how the students at a Chinese University attracted the ire of their vice-chancellor for playing mahjong and questioning the orders of security guards, is really an article about how university students are an undisciplined rabble. That article is designed to erode public opinion of students, and by extension the pro-democracy movements.

This story shows how seriously the Chinese government takes the threat.
posted by awfurby at 3:49 PM on October 5, 2016 [19 favorites]


to add on to awfurby's comment about trying to color public perception of the students, there's also the idea that things like mahjong, or hot pot, or going back further, tea houses, are all places where people sit, and linger, and chat. Chatting leads to thinking, thinking leads to dissent, dissent leads to protest, protest leads to embarrassment for the ruling class. Anytime there's any kind of concentrated push to take away a popular meeting time or place for students, it's worth checking to see who is pushing for it, and who would benefit from it going away.

Does anyone else see SCMP and immediately get it confused with SMBC? Just me? Okay...
posted by Ghidorah at 4:24 PM on October 5, 2016 [3 favorites]


Here is a little more on the Hong Kong students, and what they are facing.
posted by Oyéah at 4:39 PM on October 5, 2016


Mahjong! is a gateway drug, people. Mahjong > hotpot meals > disreputable acts. Ne warned
posted by greenhornet at 6:52 PM on October 5, 2016


Thanks for the context, awfurby and others.
posted by quaking fajita at 7:29 PM on October 5, 2016 [1 favorite]


Another perspective from Hong Kong (I live here, but I'm not Chinese and can't speak it):

Across developing-world cities in Asia, there is a school of thought that anything students do that is not academic is a waste of time when they could be studying hard and earning better marks, the better to move up the socioeconomic ladder and buy that flat and marry that person and take care of their family as their parents age. This is not as feasible as it once was, but is still possible, especially in countries with relatively high growth in incomes in a single generation and big differences in urban and rural income. Plenty of young Indonesians from Medan or rural Sulawesi, for example, may very well improve their lot in life with hard study, dedication and probably a move to Jakarta for a few years.

But in Hong Kong this model doesn't work anymore - wages for young graduates are too low to allow much savings with rents as high as they are, so saving for a mortgage is very nearly impossible - Hong Kong is smaller than Singapore but far more dense; there is no feasible-commute rural backwater to camp out in for a few years while you save. Even the best and brightest might not be able to afford their own place given the swamping of the local property market with Mainland cash.

On top of the financial stress of needing to save, Hong Kong has no maximum working hours legislation, meaning it really is a race to the bottom in terms of competitiveness in the salaried professions. Add to that incredible pollution, a tiny amount of public space, a cash-for-access political system that is not really a democracy and is probably not going to become any freer in the future, a pro-business government consensus that ignores the middle and working classes, a transport system at the limits of its capacity every day, and very limited time for self-care and relaxation and you get midnight mahjong.

To me, this story speaks to the CUHK vice-chancellor's generation having had things far easier, despite what they claim, than the one whose education they are currently overseeing. The mahjong players are like so many Hong Kong youth: overworked, squeezed on all sides, and facing a bleak future.
posted by mdonley at 1:55 AM on October 6, 2016 [2 favorites]


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