If you want to know what Chengdu does with its afternoons, the answer is mahjong. The city plays it in teahouses, in park pavilions, on the pavement outside shops and in the courtyards of residential blocks, always with tea, always with a great deal of talking, and always for hours. Chengdu people describe their city's character as xian shi - unhurried, a bit idle - and mahjong is the clearest expression of it. A visitor who spends an afternoon at a table learns more about the place than a day of sightseeing.
The Sichuan rules
Sichuan mahjong uses a reduced tile set: only the three suits of number tiles, with the winds, dragons and flowers removed, so the game is faster and the scoring simpler than the standard four-player version. Common local variants continue until only one player has not won, and the scoring accumulates across rounds. Because the tile set is smaller, a beginner can be playing within an hour, and the region's residents are famously happy to teach. Tile names and the standard calls are worth learning in Chinese; the rest can be communicated by pointing.
Where to play
The traditional setting is a teahouse, either in a park or in an old lane, where you pay for tea and the table by the hour or per cup and sit for as long as you like. The teahouses in People's Park are the best known; quieter ones sit in the lanes around the old town and in the parks south of the centre. Traditional bamboo armchairs, a covered cup of jasmine or bamboo-leaf tea, a bowl of melon seeds and the click of tiles are the whole experience.
Practical notes
Bring small change for tea and table hire, and expect no English. It is perfectly acceptable to watch a game, but ask before sitting down, and never comment on another player's hand. If you want to learn, the other players at a park table will usually oblige, and a translation app covers the vocabulary. Avoid gambling: local tables often play for small stakes, and foreigners joining in for money is a bad idea on every level. Cheaper sets can be bought in the old town market if you want to take the game home.
