Mahjong tiles plated with 18 karat gold on display at the China International Import Expo in Shanghai on Tuesday. Each mahjong tile is inlaid with 700 zircons and colored gemstones, and the price of the whole set is about 198,000 yuan ($27,300). Photo: IC Photo

A mahjong game is held underwater in Southwest China’s Chongqing municipality in 2016. On Saturday, the Mahjong International League and the Hangzhou Branch of the China Chess Academy jointly established a Mahjong Competition and Training Center in Hangzhou, East China’s Zhejiang province. Anyone can be certified as a mahjong master by competing in online and offline competitions. Photo: VCG

Australian artist Joshua Smith created a detailed miniature sculpture of a Hong Kong store in 2021, which is based on The Biu Kee Mahjong shop in Hong Kong, one of the last few mahjong tile shops in the city that still does everything by hand. Photo: VCG

Citizens play mahjong while charging their phones on a high-tech lamppost in Wuhan, Central China’s Hubei province, in 2020. Photo: IC Photo

A decommissioned airplane was transformed into a mahjong parlor in Wuhan. Photo: IC Photo

People in Chengdu, Southwest China’s Sichuan province, play mahjong in a pool of water to beat the heat in July 2021. The ancient game was invented in China roughly two millennia ago and is still going strong in China today. Photo: VCG

The record for the most people playing was set near Chengdu’s famous centuries-old Dujiangyan water diversion project in 2013, with a total of 2,380 participants. Photo: VCG

A server removes glutinous rice balls in the shape of mahjong tiles from a hot pot in Chongqing in 2019. Photo: VCG

Tea cakes in the shape of mahjong tiles are served at a hotel in Jinan, East China’s Shandong province, in 2019. Photo: VCG

Four figurines inspired by bronzes from the Sanxingdui archeological site in Sichuan province on display at an expo in Zhengzhou, Central China’s Henan province, on Sept. 1. Photo: VCG

Citizens in Shenyang, Northeast China’s Liaoning province, play mahjong with giant tiles at a shopping mall in 2017. Photo: VCG

A mall used 7,050 mahjong tiles to build a mosaic of a single tile in Shenyang, Northeast China’s Liaoning province, in 2019. Photo: IC Photo