Who invented mahjong?
When Zheng He went to the Western Ocean in the Ming Dynasty, there was no entertainment equipment on board, so the soldiers on board could only gamble with dice as a pastime. However, the soldiers were tired during the long voyage. Some soldiers often miss home, and some even try to resist and kill Zheng He and others. In order to stabilize the military, Zheng He invented an entertainment tool.
Zheng He carved 1-9 "strips" with more than 100 pieces of small wood chips as the brand and fleet on the basis of cards, tooth cards and Pai Jiu, and then carved 1-9 "barrels" according to the number of fresh water barrels loaded on the ship. Then, according to the wind direction, four wind directions "East, West, North and South" were carved. And carved 1-9 "ten thousand" with attractive money. Then take "China soldiers are imported" as the slogan. Carve a red "clock" and then carve four flower cards according to the seasons of the year. Finally, if you don't know what to carve, you won't carve anything. This is the "whiteboard".
The first time was the deputy commander Zheng He, and the general played with Zheng He's wife (eunuchs can also marry). After the rules of the game were finalized, the whole ship began to play this game. There was a general named Ma on board, and he was very handy in playing this game, so Zheng He named the game "General Ma's Army Card", which is the "Mahjong Card" of later generations.
In the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, while the horse brand prevailed, a kind of entertainment equipment called "playing cards" (also called Mohe brand) was derived from the horse brand. Cards are also played by four people. The card made of paper is two inches long and less than one inch wide. There are 60 cards at the beginning, which are divided into three colors: Qian Wen, Suozi and Wanguan. There are two cards in one to three colors and two cards in the first three colors (namely, Chinese, wool and white).
When playing cards, four people each take ten cards first, and then take cards and play cards in turn. Three cards together are called a pair, and the person who has three pairs and one deck wins. The title of the prize-winning card is "He" (pronounced: hú, ㄨˊ). One family plays cards, and two or even three families say at the same time that the one who gets the card first wins. These items and playing methods are very similar to today's mahjong tiles. This card game is always silent in the process of playing, so it is also called silent card.
Later, people felt that the number of cards was too small to play happily, so they put two decks together to form a deck of cards to play, and the number of cards became 120. In terms of gameplay, in addition to three cards connected together, three identical cards can also become a pair. In other words, you can touch the cards you have played while eating. At this time, the combinations of cards are "column" (connected with three numbers of the same door), "bump" (three are the same) and "open column" (four are the same). At this time, the cards are also called "touching cards".
Extended data:
Around the end of the Qing Dynasty, four kinds of wind cards (four in each color) were added to the cards. The most commonly used table at that time was the square table, also called the square table. The name of the square table comes from the fact that eight people can sit at dinner. Always face one side when playing cards, limiting two people to one side. Gradually formed the custom of four people playing cards, each sitting on one side. People are also inspired by four directions, adding east, south, west and north winds to the cards.
As for the increase of "three yuan" cards, it may be people's yearning for promotion and wealth. Success is winning the bid (winning the bid, winning the bid, winning the first prize, called winning the bid). If you win the bid, you will naturally get rich. Whiteboard may mean blank and innocent.
Later, when people played mahjong, they often took all the cards away, and no one played them, which was disappointing. In order to make up for this shortcoming, listening comprehension has been increased. At first, I just added two pieces, and gradually developed into more pieces until it developed into a painted mahjong tile.
However, due to the large number of cards, it is very inconvenient to take, discard and combine cards. Inspired by dominoes, people gradually turned into bones and put cards on the table to facilitate playing cards. Authentic mahjong tiles from now on.
As for the origin of the name of mahjong tiles, there is no textual research. It may come from incorrect pronunciation. Wu Renyin's "bird" is diào, and the horse card becomes the horse bird card, the horse bird card becomes the sparrow card, and then becomes the mahjong card.
References:
Baidu encyclopedia-mahjong