The fading craft
When it is lunar new year, it's always time to play mahjong.
Most of us only focus on pong (碰), kong (槓), and chow (上), but while we are playing mahjong, have you ever thought about how to make it?
Located near Temple Street, Biu Kee Mah-jong is one of the very few remaining shop that still make and sell hand-carved mahjong.
Shun-king Cheung, the mahjong craftsman, has been making mahjong for 50 years.
With 50 years of experience, Cheung can easily finish the carving of a single mahjong in less than a minute without drawing any drafts beforehand.
There are three main tools needed to carve a mahjong, and the knife is mainly used to make mahjong with "numbers" (萬子).
When it is too dark, Cheung will turn on his hand-made lamp.
After carving and some fine-adjustment, the final step is colouring.
It usually takes Cheung a week to carve a full set of mahjong.
Sometimes customers even need to wait for months if there are too many orders.
Other than hand-carved mahjong, other gambling related products like poker and chips are also the main sources of profit.
A set of hand-carved mahjong costs about 4000 Hong Kong dollars, making it hard to complete with those machine-made ones.
"It is hard to make a living with only selling hand-carved mahjong." Cheung says.
The golden age of the industry was in the 1960s to 1970s.
With the invention in mahjong-making machine and the decline of Mahjong School (麻雀館), the industry gradually became a sunset industry.
In recent few years, hand-carved mahjong become popular again after being mentioned by different media. Even foreigners also know Biu Kee.
Cheung sometimes also teaches people to make mahjong by themselves.
But Cheung is still pessimistic about the future.
"Even though someone is willing to learn (how to make mahjong),
still it's difficult for him to see this as a job to earn their livelihood."
Biu Kee's sign is now fading its colour, so do the whole industry.