Hard Work and a Bowl of Rice

A bespectacled 17 year-old hunched over a textbook, thick rimmed steel glasses, dim light on a cramped desk, crunched ball of used tissue on the desk, so focused and with seemingly no time to blow the nose properly, nor throw the used tissue in the wastepaper basket.

An employee hunched over at work, in dark overalls, red star on his chest, standing at a bench for 20 hours a day, only stopping for a bowl of rice every 8 hours, too frightened to look up and around because his party supervisors will crack the whip, or even worse, to be shot on the spot! Maybe……….in 1950!

Modern misconceptions may well have been true under Chairman Mao's regime (1949-1976) where many Chinese people led a monotonous life wearing austerity and frugality like a badge of honor, manipulated by his rule, vying with one another in factories or on farms to meet the far-fetched targets set on China’s development. In that age, Mao’s government also set strict restrictions on civilians’ entertainment; therefore, Chinese people’s lives in comparison to today were by and large dull and static. However, due to the reforms and opening-up pioneered by Chairman Deng and the dismantling of cultural autocracy, China’s exposure to the outside world and consequent acceptance of affluence and pleasure has been increased.

The aforementioned misconception certainly does not hold true today for many Chinese, although a vast number outside the major cities still live in impoverished conditions. Actually Chinese people are quite aware of the truth that is “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.” China has a number of famous recreational activities that relieve the boredom of life, such as Mahjong, KTV (Karaoke), table tennis and cards. Chinese people do like to have fun!

Jack is Very Happy, and Entertained Too!

Mahjong is a four-player game of Chinese origin and boasts a history of more than three thousand years. It’s a combination of dominoes and card games. Foreigners will blink or even stare dumbfounded at the astonishing prevalence of Mahjong in Chinese households. If you step into a Chinese family in Shanghai after work, chances are that you will find the whole family, mingled with relatives, neighbors or friends, gathering around a square mahogany table.

Now and then, merrymaking children rush to their parents, furtively tugging at their clothes to remind them that a false step will upset the whole game. At times, in glee, you will hear someone shout “我胡了，自摸！Wo hu le, zi mo!” (I won, completed the hand, isn’t that good!) An old Chinese saying runs, “Among 1.3 billion Chinese people, one billion Chinese are playing Mahjong while the left 300million are observing the game.” Many Chinese believe Mahjong has a list of tangible advantages, such as to strengthen the ties between family, friends and neighbors, to hone children’s intelligence and the most important is to relieve the monotony and pressure suffered by Chinese people not only living in this modern and high-speed society, but those toiling in the farms, often without electricity in far-flung Guizhou Province.