Hallmark’s upcoming romance is facing backlash from critics who say the film is “whitewashing” the traditional Chinese game of mahjong.
The new film, titled All’s Fair in Love & Mahjong, premieres on May 9 and stars Fiona Gubelmann, Paul Campbell, Yan-Kay Crystal Lowe, Tamera Mowry-Housley and Melissa Peterman. An earlier description of the film on the Hallmark website said it was about a school nurse who “turns her love of the game Mahjong into a new path” after being inspired by “a jovial contractor” who, while fixing up her home, “encourages her to take a chance on the future.” The latest description says the film is about a school nurse who finds “unexpected hope through teaching Mahjong, the centuries‑old Chinese game that helps her build community and open her heart again.”
Hallmark recently shared a poster for the film on Instagram, which does not include Asian actors and features a mahjong set that varies from the traditional style. The post drew comments criticizing the network for excluding Chinese culture from the story.
“Ah yes, nothing says Happy AAPI Month like appropriating Asian culture,” one person wrote, referring to the month of May, which honors Asian American and Pacific Islander cultures. Another added, “But no Asians are in the movie? Not even as the quirky best friend?”
A third shared, “Where are the Asian voices and actors tied to the culture this comes from? And changing the mahjong tiles on this poster too? It’s giving cultural appropriation more than appreciation.”
In a statement to Yahoo, a spokesperson for Hallmark said, “All’s Fair in Love & Mahjong is a love story with connection at its core, highlighting family, friendship, and motherhood with warmth and humor. The movie honors the heritage of Mahjong by recognizing the game’s Chinese origin and its unique ability to connect cultures, generations, and communities.”
What is mahjong?
Mahjong is a tile game that originated in China in the mid-1800s. Today, there are multiple ways to play the game, with Japanese, Filipino and Cantonese styles, each having its own rules.
In the 1920s, marketers began framing mahjong as a cosmopolitan activity, allowing it to gain popularity in elite circles in the United States — despite strong anti-Asian sentiment in the country at the time. In 1937, Jewish American women formed the National Mah-jongg League, standardizing what became known as American mahjong, a version of the game with its own rules and simplified scoring system.
In an interview with Time, Mahjong: A Chinese Game and the Making of Modern American Culture author Annelise Heinz said that the reason the game has “fostered various and rich game cultures around the world” is due to the “rhythm” of the game, which involves pausing between rounds to wash or shuffle the tiles, which allows time for brief conversation with the other players.
“I think that tempo is perfect for building new relationships,” she explained. “When you’re in a new community or connecting across a generational divide, maybe you don’t want to have deep heart-to-heart or can’t have one, but you can have a little bit of conversation and over time, those rhythms, especially if you’re playing with the same group of people, can build incredibly deep, long-lasting relationships.”
Mahjong is growing in popularity — and it’s stirring controversy
While mahjong has long been played in the United States, its popularity has surged in recent years, with some people pointing to a desire to connect with others sans screens. The game was part of a pivotal scene in the 2018 romantic comedy hit Crazy Rich Asians, in which Constance Wu’s character, the daughter of a Chinese immigrant to the United States and a math professor, bests her wealthy Singapore-based mother-in-law-to-be, played by Michelle Yeoh. Stars like Julia Roberts have also praised the game, with the actress telling Stephen Colbert in 2019 that mahjong helps her make sense of the “chaos.”
And just earlier this month, the New York Post reported that the rich and famous in Los Angeles are turning mahjong parties into hot social gatherings, with private parties at the members-only club San Vicente Bungalows.
Yet as mahjong becomes buzzier than ever, so, too, has conversation around “whitewashing” of the game — or removing the original Chinese cultural context. A recent article in the New York Times, which featured the founder of Oh My Mahjong, a company that sells expensive luxury mahjong sets and courses to learn how to become an instructor, was criticized for promoting the gentrification of the game. (The article also featured Jackie Moy, the owner of Greenwich Mahjong Club.)
Melissa Peterman, Yan-Kay Crystal Lowe, Fiona Gubelman and Tamera Mowry-Housley.
(Halmark)
In an Instagram post from Diet Prada — an account that covers fashion and pop culture conversations — about the New York Times article, many commenters called for people to honor the game’s Chinese roots. “Go support your local Chinatown guys (if you have one),” one person wrote. “You can get usual majong sets for like 50 bucks! No need for fancy place mats or tile holders, if you have a table? You can play majong.”
Another added, “White women have no clue who they are without consuming (quite literally someone else’s culture/unpaid labor).”
And a third wrote, “I have seen this on so many non Asian influencer pages now. The tiles are so awful – and what astonishes me is that they think they’re making them more ‘aesthetic’. Grandparents of grandparents have been playing this for centuries. Especially when they would immigrate to another country (in my parents case, Canada) it was their way of finding a community.”
Still, others have said that mahjong does not belong to one culture. “What’s with all the hate?” one user commented. “I’m Chinese and mahjong is but a game like poker, it’s not heritage and cultural stealing. If they want to make a nice set and sell it for ridiculous amount of money, as long as there is a market, there’s nothing wrong with it! And I’m sure if you know Chinese culture, we salute that. It’s all about money making, I’m sure there’s other Chinese people that agree with me. I can’t care about the color of the skin of these people who are making money, let them play their mahjong fancy.”