Well a group of white women have tried to re-package the centuries-old Chinese game mahjong into a pretty, “edgy” version directed at young women, and understandably people are pissed.
The Mahjong Line was created by three American women (with no Asian ancestry), who wanted to “refresh” the original game and make it reflect their personalities (or lack thereof). To purchase one of their high-end sets, you’d be looking at $325 USD ($416.86 AUD). Yikes.
Not only is the concept extremely tone-deaf, but the copy for the product shows a real carelessness and lack of proper research.
“We don’t take ourselves too seriously,” (yes, clearly not).
“But we do our Mahjong.
“We honour the heritage but like a bit of edge. The Mahjong Line is for jaunty gals playing a civilised game with a wink.”
Oh god, someone make it stop. This sounds like copy from a first-year PR student. Shocking.
It gets worse though.
“The struggle is real when reading the old-school tiles, especially for new players.”
Sorry but if a 70-year old woman can read the tiles just fine, so too can a 20-year old.
Critics have called the brand out for white-washing the game, and trying to make it seem like their version is “luxury” in comparison to the Chinese original.
Why the copy on #themahjongline is so problematic
Centering the White rebrand as stylish luxury and the Chinese original as lacking personality of style
Brands do this ALL the time. Put down others to sell themselves pic.twitter.com/f8PeAX7boy
— Joey Ng (@joeyng) January 5, 2021
Our ancestors wouldn’t believe the ✨audacity✨ #themahjongline pic.twitter.com/eXvsSNLfbH
— Wong Fu Productions (@wongfupro) January 6, 2021
Fashion-industry watchdogs Diet Prada also called the game out on Instagram stating: “It never ceases to amaze how white people can find new ways to colonise BIPOC’s cultural heritage.”
The Mahjong Line comes in five sets, with each geared toward a different basic-white-girl stereotype. For example: “loves a good Eames chair, the smell of coffee shops, abnormally long walks on crisp days and the pulse of NYC,” etc.
You can find out which type of terrible-human you are by answering a few questions in a quiz. One of the quiz questions even tries to capitalise on the Ruth Bader Ginsberg hype, by listing her as an option for a question about who you’d prefer as a dinner guest.
Since going viral, the store URL has been taken down. However, their Instagram page is still active.
On their IG is their shared statement responding to the backlash.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CJrpO-TniSB/
Yeah this ain’t it, chief.