In real life, I’m almost always the only non-Hong-Kong-born-Chinese person at the mahjong table. Unlike Grace, I’ve won the night more-than-once, but not much more.
With the set we bought a couple years ago, I’ve only won one hand. My competition was my wife, my late mother-in-law, and my wife’s friend whom she’d known since childhood. To them, Mahjong is not a game; it’s culture.
And don’t even get me started on the unforgettable butt-kicking I got playing Xiangqi (Chinese chess) vs. my wife’s grandfather…!