A ''Mahjong'' mat also known as bamboo summer mat is a summer

sleeping mat In camping, a ground pad, sleeping pad, thermal pad, sleeping mat, or roll mat is lightweight pad, common among hikers, backpackers and budget travelers, often used in conjunction with a sleeping bag. Its purpose is to provide padding and thermal ...

used in Asia. It is made of small pieces of woven split

bamboo Bamboos are a diverse group of evergreen perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family. The origin of the word "bamboo" is uncertain, bu ...

that help to lower body temperature and improve comfort during sleep.

Etymology

The ''mahjong'' mat it is known in

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

as a ''liangxi'' (凉席) literally cool woven mat, usually translated as summer sleeping mat. ''Mahjong'' mat is the name given to it by association with the ''Mahjong'' tiles used in the traditional Chinese game with the same name.

History

''Mahjong'' mats are made of hundreds of small bamboo tiles shaped like

Mahjong tiles Mahjong tiles () are tiles of Chinese origin that are used to play mahjong as well as mahjong solitaire and other games. Although they are most commonly tiles, they may refer to playing cards with similar contents as well. Development The ...

from the

tile-based game A tile-based game is a game that uses tiles as one of the fundamental elements of play. Traditional tile-based games use small tiles as playing pieces for gambling or entertainment games. Some board games use tiles to create their board, givin ...

that was developed in the 19th century in China.

Thomas Taylor Meadows Thomas Taylor Meadows (1815–1868) was a British sinologist. Born in Northern England, after studies in Chinese with Karl Friedrich Neumann at the University of Munich, he became a member of the British diplomatic corps, arriving in Hong Kong ...

mentions these summer mats in his travel diaries in 1856. In

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

, the summer beds were the most modest and basic bed used by the people in the 19th century. It slats were made of pine as well as bamboo. By the middle and late 1990s, Mahjong mats were at their peak popularity. China had about a 1000 production lines in full operation in many of the bamboo producing areas of China. Bamboo summer mats were one of the seven categories of bamboo products listed by the Communist government of China in order to promote the industry in 1997. However, in the late 1990s and early 2000s, as more modern foam beds developed, and air-conditioners became more common as a cooling method, the popularity of ''mahjong'' bamboo mats dropped significantly.

Production

''Mahjong'' bamboo mats are made from a variety of bamboo according to availability in the area of production. In Vietnam, the mats are made from '' Dendrocalamus barbatus''.

Use

Different from foam mats, mahjong bamboo mats are popular both during the rainy season and the hot season in

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...

as they do not absorb water and can be cooled. Being easily rolled up for storage, their cleaning is also easy as it can be dry cleaned with a damp cloth. In China, ''mahjong'' mats are usually bought at cheap prices at the beginning of the summer and are thrown away as garbage at the end of the hot season as they are slept on directly. In fact, ''mahjong'' mats are considered to be the types of sleeping mats which have the highest specific heat capacity. The large specific heat capacity means a specific object can help heat to be absorbed, so if the initial temperature of the mat is lower than the human body surface temperature, sleeping on the bamboo mat will feel cooler. However, mahjong mats also have poor air permeability, high hardness, and they tend to break easily when the bedding is uneven. Bamboo mats with spray patterns can also cause contact

dermatitis Dermatitis is inflammation of the skin, typically characterized by itchiness, redness and a rash. In cases of short duration, there may be small blisters, while in long-term cases the skin may become thickened. The area of skin involved can v ...

Etymology

History

Production

Use

References

See also