THE HISTORY OF MAH JONG (excerpt from several chapters from the beginning)

The history of the game of Mah Jong is nearly as complex and intriguing as that of its country of origin.  Its seeds were planted in a climate of rigid class division, political intrigue, and the game lived on through the death of Chinese dynastic rule.  Created by an elite class of aristocrats some 4,000 years ago, Mah Jong was such a closely guarded secret among its practitioners that it wasn't introduced to the lower elements of Chinese society until 1911. Mah Jong finally made its way to New York City in 1920, where it became an instant sensation.  Part of its charm and mystique is a product of language barriers among the many Chinese dialects and English as spoken in the melting pot known as Manhattan.  Consequently, the Chinese rules became merely suggestions to the Americans.  The translations of the tiles with their Chinese characters were improvised.  As a result, Mah Jong morphed into a hodgepodge of games whose standards and practices varied from home to home, neighborhood to neighborhood.  But never before had a vintage Zambian emerald ring been injected into its crazy quilt fabric