Pic o' the Day #21

Outside the school gate, there are always people making food or selling food.

There's lots and lots of good stuff to go around.



But sometimes, you gotta take a break. And what better way then with Sichuan's favorite card game, 斗地主 (dou dizhu), Beat the Landlord. It's a game for three players. One is the landlord, she gets more cards and gets to play first. The other two players team up to beat the landlord. Usually, you'll play for a little money.

This name is mostly a joke now, but 40 years ago, Beat the Landlord, or more correctly Struggle with the Landlord was not a game. It was part of a time of suffering and upheaval in China. The whole country was turned on its head. Universities closed for 10 years. Today, people, as well as the ruling party, see that time as a mistake. In my experience with people born in the early 1950s, there seem to be a lot of feelings that have never been fully expressed. Today, things are so good and the future looks so bright that people don't want to dig up these old pains.

So now, beat the landlord is just a way to pass the time.