Art Mahjong 4 (PC)

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More than 90 artists are featured in this fully illustrated publication, including Ai Weiwei, Huang Yan, Liu Wei, Wang Du, Weng Fen, Xu Bing, Yue Min Jun, Zhang Huan and Zhang Xiaogang.

The most challenging aspect of the process was not the intricacy of the patterns, however, nor the polishing, painting or packaging. Gregg Swain grew up, and continues to live, in New York City, where she developed her love and knowledge of art. Years ago when sets were carved, and painted, a great deal of thought was put into their designs, but today much of the subtle symbolism goes unnoticed. As one person wrote: “You threw out thousands of years of culture to make a quick buck,” while another wrote, “My culture is not some cheap colouring book that can be filled in and be ‘made pretty’ by the standards of privileged teenyboppers. The program features many challenging levels and Mahjongg boards that, once unlocked, reveal beautiful backgrounds.But owing to some of our elders who forged their careers in this pre-digital trade, the precision of mahjong carving continues to thrive through a commanding display of speed, accuracy and craftsmanship tied up in a 200-year-old tradition. As industrial methods of mass production swept Hong Kong in the 90s, many manufacturing lines moved to the low-cost lands of mainland China and the local industry was greatly impacted. It’s a trend Ricky has picked up on, saying, “people appreciate our way to preserve mahjong craftsmanship and want to own a genuine set of mahjong with authentic values. When authors Ann Israel and Gregg Swain began playing Mahjong, they were unaware of the vintage collections that existed not only in the United States but also across the globe.

With hundreds of beautiful new images by renowned photographer Michel Arnaud, and including historical documentation and ephemera, Mah Jongg: The Art of the Game fills the void between the past's and today's game, providing vision, inspiration and resources.She loves Mah Jongg because it allows her to socialize with close friends while playing with beautiful tiles.

Though the amount of mahjong players has dwindled in the digital age, recent years have seen a new resurgence, mainly from overseas. Suitable for beginners as well as for the passionate Mahjongg player, "Art Mahjong 4" with its different Mahjongg variants offers both challenging game fun and an entertaining pastime for in between. With five different kinds of tiles that make this up, there are three suits: dots, bamboo and characters; honour tiles engraved with the Chinese character for north, south, east, west and more; and the beautiful bonus tiles decorated in three alternating colours and featuring illustrations of local foliage and pictorial visualisations of the four seasons.A dying art form thanks to industrial machinery, the hand carving of mahjong tiles is a skill dating back to the game’s beginnings in 19th Century China.