NEWS ON 3/29

FIRST FOREIGNERS ADOPTED MAHJONG,

NOW THEY'RE AUTOMATING SHUFFLING

Welcome to MoneyTalks, I’m Timothy Pope/ ICS Anchor.欢迎收听今天的《财道》，我是Timothy Pope/ICS主播。

It's nothing unusual for a Chinese home to be filled with the sounds oflaughter and shuffling 【洗牌】mahjong tiles【棋子】. And while mahjong has been played in other countriesfor some time as well, it's now gaining such popularity overseas that it'sdriving up the sales of China's automatic shuffling machines. Zhang Shixuan hasmore.

麻将是中国人最为寻常的家庭活动之一，家里常常充满了欢声笑语和阵阵洗牌声。进入国际市场一段时间后，麻将在海外风靡，也带动了国内自动麻将机的生产。请听记者张诗璇报道。

Four people around a table with domino-like tiles, Mahjong has been played inChina for centuries. And over the years it's become a source of entertainmentfor people all around the world as well.
在中国，麻将已流行了好几个世纪：四个人围坐在桌边，拿着多米诺骨牌一般的麻将牌。近年来，全世界也掀起了一股“麻将热”，成为大众娱乐的方式之一。

Interviewee: Japanese Mahjong Lover
受访者：来自日本的麻将爱好者
“It's fun and it keeps me alert. I've been playing Mahjong for around 10 years,once or twice a week with my Japanese friends.”

“打麻将很开心，又能够锻炼大脑。我搓了10年了吧，一个星期1-2次，一般都和日本的朋友一起。”

“It's good for my brain. And I usually play with my friends 3 or 4 days afterwork. I've been in China for 18 years. It was really just in the past 10 yearsthat I started to play Mahjong more often here, as I've met more friends whocan play with me.”

“打麻将可以锻炼大脑。我一般下班后打，和朋友一起，3-4天一次吧。我在中国18年了，但最近十年多了一些‘牌友’，搓得比较多。”

He likes it so much that he even opened a mahjong hall in Shanghai 2 years ago.But what about all the mahjong lovers who aren't in China? It turns out theywant the most modern thing in mahjong gear - an automatic shuffling machine.
他特别喜欢麻将，甚至两年前自己在上海开了一家棋牌室。那么，那些海外麻将爱好者状况如何呢？其实，他们最想要的是紧随潮流的“高科技”——自动麻将机。

If someone in another country or region orders a mahjong machine online througha cross-border【跨境的】e-commerceplatform, they can expect delivery in around a month. International love of theChinese game is keeping China's mahjong machine makers busy.

通过跨境电商平台，在其他国家或地区下单订购麻将机，一个月左右就能收到。如此，全球麻将爱好者们也让国内的麻将机制造商忙碌了起来。

This mahjong table manufacturer in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province started toproduce mahjong machines in 2008, but only since May of 2019 did the companynotice soaring【猛涨的】 orders fromoverseas. During the just-concluded Lunar New Year Shopping Festival this year,the company saw its overseas orders double from a year earlier.

来自浙江杭州的麻将机品牌“如喜”于2008年创立。2019年5月，海外订单数量大幅增长。就在刚刚过去的农历春节，如喜已经收到了比前一年多两倍的海外订单。

Interviewee: Li Jie, Operation Director of Hangzhou Ruxi Mahjong Machine

受访者：李杰杭州如喜麻将运营总监

“Foreigners prefer Mahjong machines priced at around2,000 yuan, relatively expensive ones. In some areas with cold weather, likeAustralia, consumers tend to choose tables with built-in【内置的】 heaters. Some clients think the machines are too large,so they buy poker mahjong instead - they're convenient and cheap.”

“外国人爱买价格在两千左右，稍微贵一点点的。在澳大利亚这种比较寒冷的地方，他们会选择内置取暖款。还有一些买家会觉得麻将机太大了，就会买扑克麻将，方便携带又便宜。”

During the Spring Festival Shopping spree this year, some 40,000 automaticmahjong machines and 15,000 family mahjong tables were sold on the Taobao andTmall cross-border platforms. Some foreign orders even came in two months inadvance to avoid shipping delays. Most of the buyers were from the US, Canada,Australia and Singapore.

年货节期间，天猫国际已经卖出了近40000台自动麻将机和15000副家用麻将。为了避免延迟发货，一些海外消费者提前两个月就下了订单。大部分买家来自美国、加拿大、澳大利亚和新加坡。

Interviewee: Guo Hang, Business Expansion Director,Tmall Taobao World
受访者：郭先生天猫国际业务拓展总监
“We will continue to highlight products' overseas elements, such as Englishintroduction books, that cater to【适应】 overseas needs. We're also working on the logistics【物流】, because mahjong machines are large precisionequipment, which requires care in transportation.”
“我们会强调海外元素，制作英文说明书，根据国外消费者推荐比较符合诉求的产品。另外，我们也希望物流上有一定保障，因为麻将机体积较大，又是精密器械，运输时要特别注意。”

In 2017, the International Mind Sports Association announced the idea ofincluding Mahjong as one of its mind games - right along with its fivestandards, chess, bridge【桥牌】, checkers【国际跳棋】, go【围棋】, and Xiangqi. In the same year the MahjongInternational League was admitted as the sixth member of the association, andwhen it held its Elite Exchange that year, 30% of the players were from outsideChina - Japan, Singapore, Austria, Denmark, France, Hungary, Italy andSwitzerland.

2017年，国际智力运动联盟一致决议，宣布国际麻将联盟成为国际智力运动联盟正式成员，这也意味着竞技麻将成为继国际象棋、桥牌、国际跳棋、围棋和象棋之后，第六个国际正式智力运动项目。在国际麻将联盟举办的欧亚麻将精英赛上，30%的参赛选手来自其他国家，如日本、新加坡、奥地利、丹麦、法国、匈牙利、意大利和瑞士。

#热词加油站

shuffle【洗牌】

tile【棋子】

cross-border【跨境的】

soar【大幅增加】

built-in【内置的】

cater to【适应】

logistics【物流】

bridge【桥牌】

checkers【国际跳棋】

go【围棋】

03/30 SHLIVE丨Top secrets of the Mahjong table一起来battle！当老外迷上中国麻将 03:40 Share

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03/30 SHLIVE丨Top secrets of the Mahjong table一起来battle！当老外迷上中国麻将