Chinese will gamble on almost anything – chess, card games, fights between animals. It’s why beheading was the punishment once for those found placing bets
- Fights between crickets, roosters, quails and other birds, horse and dog races, chess, card games – Chinese people have bet on almost anything down the ages
- The problems caused by excessive gambling were long known, hence the Chinese emperor who decreed beheading as punishment for Beijingers caught placing a wager
I do not have a gambler’s disposition, but I would buy the occasional lottery ticket if the prize money is worth the trouble, and I happen to come across a betting shop without any lines. I always tell myself that it is for charity.
I can count on one hand the number of times that I have entered a casino, but I have won at the tables twice. The first time was in Macau a few years ago, where I won HK$3,000 (US$380). My recent, second win at Genting Highlands in Malaysia made me richer by 800 ringgit (US$170).
At the risk of offending punters who frequent casinos but seldom win anything, I must admit that I cannot even remember the names of the games that I played and won.
All I know is that playing cards were involved, and that the rules must have been so simple that even a novice like myself could quickly understand how the games were played.
On both occasions, I prudently left the table and cashed in my chips after I felt that I had won enough, and that my streak of beginners’ luck was about to run out.
Like I said, I am not a gambler.
The act of making a bet and hoping to win the money or chattel that is wagered is as old as it is universal. The old joke about betting on two flies climbing up the wall contains a kernel of truth. Almost anything – a game, a contest, animal behaviour, natural phenomena – can be the subject of a wager.
The Chinese have had many forms of gambling. Some of them might have simply started out as games for one’s leisure and entertainment, but when money and betting got involved, it became a whole new ballgame, as it were.
There were different kinds of chess games that the Chinese bet on, as well as horse and dog races, and fights between crickets, roosters, quails and other birds.
There were also various card games, one of which, the madiao, might have been the precursor of mahjong, probably the most popular gambling game among the Chinese today.
The ills associated with excessive gambling were known very early on in China, and several rulers tried to ban the activity or discourage it by meting out severe punishments.
During the reign of Emperor Wu of the Western Han dynasty, from 141 to 87 BC, three noblemen were stripped of their titles for gambling, one of whom was sentenced to hard labour.
The anti-gambling laws in the Song period (960–1279) were particularly harsh. Anyone caught gambling in the capital would be beheaded. The Qing dynasty (1644–1912) also had laws prohibiting gambling. Gamblers were not put to death, but they could be imprisoned, flogged or exiled to the frontier garrisons.
These laws would be applied for a while, but they would be soft-pedalled or even ignored after some time. One reason was that it was simply impossible to stamp out gambling even with the harshest laws, so enforcement fatigue eventually set in. This is true even today.
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Another reason was that gambling was also popular with the ruling elite. When avid gamblers could be found among emperors, their consorts, and senior officials in the government, then it goes without saying that enforcement would be difficult.
I play mahjong with members of my immediate family whenever we get together at my brother’s home. We play with pretend money, which is not converted to cash at the end of the game. We chat, nibble on snacks, exercise our mental faculties (especially my 82-year-old father) and enjoy each other’s company at the mahjong table.
At our family mahjong sessions, winning the game is never the point.
