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Book Cover
E-book
Author Heinz, Annelise, author.

Title Mahjong : a Chinese game and the making of modern American culture / Annelise Heinz
Published New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2021]
©2021

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Description 1 online resource (xi, 340 pages) : illustrations
Summary "Mahjong: A Chinese Game and the Making of Modern American Culture illustrates how the spaces between tiles and the moments between games have fostered distinct social cultures in the United States. This mass-produced game crossed the Pacific, creating waves of popularity over the twentieth century. Mahjong narrates the history of this game to show how it has created a variety of meanings, among them American modernity, Chinese American heritage, and Jewish American women's culture. As it travelled from China to the United States and caught on with Hollywood starlets, high society, middle-class housewives, and immigrants alike, mahjong became a quintessentially American pastime. This book also reveals the ways in which women leveraged a game for a variety of economic and cultural purposes, including entrepreneurship, self-expression, philanthropy, and ethnic community building. One result was the forging of friendships within mahjong groups that lasted decades. This study unfolds in two parts: the first half is focused on mahjong's history as related to consumerism, with a close examination of its economic and cultural origins. The second half of the book explores how mahjong interwove with the experiences of racial inclusion and exclusion in the evolving definition of what it means to be American. Mahjong players, promoters, entrepreneurs, and critics tell a broad story of American modernity. The apparent contradictions of the game - as both American and foreign, modern and supposedly ancient, domestic and disruptive of domesticity - reveal the tensions that lie at the heart of modern American culture"-- Provided by publisher
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Notes Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (Oxford Scholarship Online, viewed on July 30, 2021)
Subject Mah jong -- Social aspects -- United States
Civilization -- Chinese influences
SUBJECT United States -- Civilization -- Chinese influences. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh93001460
Subject United States
Form Electronic book
LC no. 2020041163
ISBN 9780190081805
0190081805
9780190081829
0190081821
9780190081812
0190081813
Other Titles Mah jong