Edit: Thank you all for the answers!
I've been reading Mao since coming here and I saw this talking about gaming.
" Gaming. Where the peasant association is powerful, mahjong, dominoes and card games are completely banned.
The peasant association in the 14th District of Hsianghsiang burned two basketfuls of mahjong sets.
If you go to the countryside, you will find none of these games played; anyone who violates the ban is promptly and strictly punished. "
I guess my question is why would gaming be banned? I figured there is some cultural context that I'm missing because I would think especially during this time period it would be a way to bring people together during downtime.
(It should be noted that gambling was its own category)
Thank you for your time!
because gaming here really means gambling. they were all heavily tied to gambling, opium, and other tools of capitalist and feudal oppression in china prior to the revolution.
It shows how much the social context matters. I experience card and dice games as wholesome social activities, bringing joy and connection between me, my family and friends. But in another context (especially when gambling and drugs are involved), it's this seedy, grungy activity that is tearing apart those same connections.
for sure, the real problems underlying gambling are poverty and debt. gambling offers a tempting means of escaping poverty while actually trapping most people further in debt. i'm certainly not an expert on this subject, but i would guess that illegal gambling continued to be a problem after the revolution. i can see an argument for "we need to shut this whole thing down for a few years until we can make sure the gambling rings are stamped out and the opium dealers are disarmed."