Pacific Asia Museum

The Pacific Asia Museum

I used to teach classes in mah-jongg at the Pacific Asia Museum. The mah-jongg rules I taught there are the Chinese Official rules - the rules used at the 2002 World Championship in Mahjong and the 2003 China Majiang Open Championship.

The museum is in a lovely old mansion with a charming courtyard. The arrow points up to the mah-jongg classroom.

Let the class begin! First, students work together to divvy up the tiles and identify them all.

The man in yellow is David Wright. When I was returning to the United States from the 2002 World Championship in Mahjong, I ran into David at Narita airport in Tokyo - he was just returning from a vacation in Thailand. Not only were we on the same flight, we sat in the same row! Small world.

The series of classes having concluded, some of the graduates formed a mah-jongg club for a weekly game. The club is called "The Clattering Sparrows."

World Championship players visited the Clattering Sparrows club on March 14, 2003. CLICK to see pictures!

Want to learn how to play mah-jongg?
Click the image above to contact the museum - ask them to run the series again!
The Pacific Asia Museum is at 46 North Los Robles Avenue, Pasadena, CA 91101. The phone number is (626) 449-2742. Website: http://www.pacificasiamuseum.org.