The game is almost over for one of Hong Kong’s last mahjong carvers
Ho Sau-Mei, one of Hong Kong’s last mahjong tile carvers, is getting old. “My eyesight is fading, and my hands are getting sore,” she says brusquely as she chisels the intricate strokes of a Chinese character or the petals of a flower onto a piece of plastic little bigger than a postage stamp.
For over four decades, Ho has been carving mahjong tiles in a tiny roadside shop in Hung Hom, an old harborside district that is now seeing the rapid construction of shiny, new residential high-rises.
She started learning the craft at age 13 from her father, who founded the family's tile business, Kam Fat Mahjong, in 1962. Masters who would visit Hong Kong during its manufacturing heyday in the 1970s and 80s also shared their techniques and trained apprentices.
Mahjong is a game for four people similar to rummy and is hugely popular across China and among Chinese communities for which it also serves as a cultural ritual and symbol of tradition. Children learn how to play as they spend time with cousins and friends over Lunar New Year, and among the elderly it’s popular all year round.
