Opinion | French beat Chinese at their own game: mahjong

Allez les bleus! A sweeping victory by France over China at an international mahjong tournament has left the nation that invented the game of tiles in shock.

To complete the European dominance, the three were followed by two Italians and a Dutch player. The best Chinese player ranked only seventh. Among the 108 participants, 13 were Chinese citizens.

News of the national humiliation went viral on Sina Weibo at the weekend. Mostly jocular microblog comments on the humbling defeat were shared tens of thousands of times.

“We cannot let foreign devils beat us," one person commented.

"As a person from Chongqing, I feel the nation needs me now," said a resident of the city known to produce talented mahjong players.