Mahjong Club is building community at UVA

Student Experience

Mahjong Club is building community at UVA

Benjamin Liu frequently sent friends and classmates a message during his first year at the University of Virginia: “If you’re free, join us for mahjong at the usual place!”

He’s now a second-year computer science student and vice president of UVA Mahjong Club. His efforts to gather people to play the tile-based strategy game he learned from his family back in Virginia Beach have drawn students from across Grounds for more than a year.

For Liu and club co-founder and president XiaoYi Luo, a second-year biochemistry student, founding the club is a way to share a piece of their heritage with the community.

Liu remembers gathering around the mahjong table, subbing in for family members so they could guide him over his shoulder. The atmosphere was rowdy and cheerful, he said.

Benjamin Liu and XiaoYi Luo teaching others to play Mahjong

Mahjong Club co-founders Benjamin Liu, vice president, and XiaoYi Luo, president, organize their tiles at the beginning of a mahjong game. Players draw and discard tiles to form sets and pairs, similar to rummy. (Photo by Lathan Goumas, University Communications)

“It’s like sharing a personal family experience with others at UVA,” Liu said.

While Liu learned mahjong from his parents in high school, Luo’s journey was different. She grew up watching mahjong games in southern China when her parents and their coworkers would play during lunch breaks. But she didn’t play herself until she got to UVA.

“During my first week, I asked in an international student group chat if anyone wanted to play,” Luo said. She met Liu and other students, finally learning the game she had watched for years.

Their informal group played throughout the fall of 2024, rotating through dorm common spaces. By spring 2025, they realized they wanted to reach more students. They formalized as a contracted independent organization that semester.

Since then, the club has focused on welcoming students who’ve never played before.

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“Our purpose, our goal for our club, is to have more new people come in – people who don’t know how to play mahjong,” Luo said. “We are here to teach them how to play and have them learn and play together.”

On a recent Friday evening in New Cabell Hall, tiles clicked together as students gathered around two tables. The players shuffled the blue and white tiles, building the “walls” that begin every game.

Club members eagerly team up with newcomers, guiding them through their first games. The atmosphere is relaxed. No technology or assignments required – just tiles, strategy and conversation.

Like rummy, mahjong players draw and discard tiles to form specific sets and pairs, aiming to complete a winning hand. First played in China in the mid- to late 1800s, the game remains popular across Asia, with different regional variations, and is experiencing a .

“I’m glad it’s spreading, so more people will learn about Chinese culture and Chinese language,” Luo said.

The club primarily plays Fuzhou-style mahjong, a regional variation from Fujian province in southeastern China. For many of the club’s members, including second-year computer engineering student Sean Pan, it’s the style they learned growing up.

“A bunch of us in the club, our parents are from Fuzhou, so that’s just the style we naturally play,” Pan said. “It’s the only way we know how to play, so we can only teach what we know.”

For Pan, the weekly meetings provide a break from academic demands.

“It’s pretty mentally draining if you’re focused on homework every day, seven days a week,” he said. “So having something every week at a set time where you’re chilling and playing mahjong with your friends is important.”