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Zhong

Zhong 中 (Red Center)—Mahjong

The inspiration for the photographs is that I played mahjong in China last year, and I always looked at the tiles whenever I played them. Besides, I got interested in the character "中" when I played it.

Mahjong is a very famous game in different provinces of China. The game is played with a set of 144 tiles based on Chinese characters and symbols. Each player begins by receiving 13 tiles. In turn, players draw and discard tiles until they complete a legal hand using the 14th drawn tile to form four melds (or sets) and a pair (eye).

Honor tiles: East 东, West ⻄, South 南, North 北, Red center (Zhong) 中, Get rich 发, Whiteboard 白
(these are the directions)

Suit tiles:

(main tiles) Dots Bamboo Characters

The "wan tiao tong" class equals heaven, earth, human, sun, moon and stars.

They are the ultimate idea about "three" in the book I Ching (易经). The number 1-9 of

"Tiao, Tong, Wan" is China's largest and most sacred (神圣的) number. Mahjong implies

heavenly secrets and human's life. The four locations of people's seats also related Fengshui, time and space.

In the photos, I created a scene that 4 people are playing with their tiles. In the scenes, Zhong(中) is an essential tile to the person who almost wins. And the other tricks about mahjong itself. 


The reason that I choose the red center is that it represents the "three" in Taoism. Lao Tzu wrote, "One produced two; two produced three; three produced all things." The "white board" is 1; it represents empty. "Get rich" is 2; it is the process to 3. The "red center (zhong)" is 3; it can generate all the things.

中 Zhong: List
中 Zhong: Pro Gallery
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