Mahjong tiles clicking again in Sichuan

As efforts to curtail the spread of the coronavirus have begun to pay off, Sichuan province issued an announcement on Wednesday that will please mahjong enthusiasts, parlors, tea houses and internet cafes: They can resume operations immediately.

To prevent people from getting together and spreading coronavirus, Sichuan banned mahjong on Feb 9 for the duration of the epidemic.

The scrapping of the regulation brought great joy to many mahjong fans in Sichuan, such as Luo Po, an octogenarian in the provincial capital of Chengdu. 

Luo resumed playing mahjong with three friends in a parlor immediately after lunch.

Yue Ping, who has an elderly mother, said, "Mom never leaves the apartment unless she plays mahjong. After lunch, she can play for five hours until dinnertime."

There's an old joke that airplane passengers bound for Chengdu, a city of 14 million, can hear mahjong tiles clicking before landing. After a temporary silence, they're clicking once again.