The Attractions of Mahjong
Mahjong is probably unique in the extreme diversity of the attractions which it offers to its devotees. The Mahjong set is in itself a work of art and an object of beauty, which it is a pleasure to handle and admire: so too, the characteristically Chinese ideas which are embodied and expressed in the game, and the poetic phraseology in which they are conveyed, contribute to the novelty, the mystique and the romantic appeal of Mahjong. At the same time these attributes set it apart from other games, and grant to its initiates an agreeable sense of cliquish exclusivity, in their having gained knowledge of mysteries hidden from the understanding of the mass of mankind.
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