美国人的新消遣方式 坐在公园里搓麻将!
Mahjong, which originated in China, has evolved to become a popular American pastime since it was introduced to the US in early 1920s. Every Monday and Thursday afternoon in Bryant Park, one of most illustrious public places in downtown New York City, with the clink of tiles and ignited outbursts from drawing an unlucky piece, mahjong lovers gather around the table to play the game. This year marks the fourth year of the Mahjong area in Bryant Park. The Mahjong area now runs twice a week. On holidays there are even marathons with all kinds of Mahjong.Anyone can come to play and learn. The National Mahjong League, which started with just 32 members when it was founded in 1937 to standardize the game, now "has 500,000 members, so it's very, very popular", according to Linda Fisher, Bryant Park's Mahjong area organizer. Culturally, mahjong was important in Chinatown in the 1920s and 1930s, as it gave Chinese Americans a cultural bond at a time when many other Americans saw them as "perpetual foreigners". |