Take its FAQ page: In a section titled “American vs. My culture is not some cheap coloring book that can be filled-in and be ‘made pretty’ by the standards of privileged teenyboppers.”Īs critics have pointed out, the company repeatedly whitewashes Mahjong’s history, its cultural origins, and its players on its website. “It is a product of thousands of years of tradition and history. “My culture is one of the oldest civilizations in the world,” Twitter user Jeremy Lee wrote on Monday alongside pictures of the Mahjong Line’s website. The company first launched its products in November but faced widespread criticism online this week as screenshots of its tone-deaf copy began to circulate on social media - none of the founders have Chinese ancestry, but their website blithely proclaims, “We’re rethinking what Mahjong looks like.” Indeed: The more expensive sets don’t have any pieces with Chinese characters on them at all. The result: brightly-colored sets with names like “the Minimal Line,” and “the Cheeky Line” that sell for between $325 and $425, and a $50 playing mat that reads “Not Your Mama’s Mahjong” and “Get Your Mahj On.” (A November write-up of the company by the website Paper City said that LaGere “searched for a unique set of her own, one she could proudly bring to friends’ homes to play, but came up empty.”)

Their goal, they say, is to bring it to the “stylish masses.”Īccording to the Mahjong Line’s “About Us” page, the idea for the company came about because one of its founders, Kate LaGere, felt that “traditional tiles … did not reflect the fun that was had when playing with her friends,” and that “nothing came close to mirroring her style and personality.” So she enlisted two other women, Annie O’Grady and Bianca Watson, to help develop their own “respectful refresh” of the game. A Dallas-based company is facing backlash for attempting to give a “respectful refresh” and “modern makeover” to Mahjong, the popular, centuries-old Chinese tile game.

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