Into the dragon's lair

The Brett Ratner film Red Dragon has left mahjong players in Hong Kong wondering whether the director has got a sloppy scriptwriter. In one scene, FBI agent Will Graham (Edward Norton) discovers a Chinese character painted in red on a tree by a serial killer. Graham later tells his boss that the character is from a mahjong tile that symbolises the red dragon.

'We all know that's wrong,' said film critic Shek Kei. To locals, the character (right) apparently means hitting the jackpot. How did the dragon come about? After consulting various mahjong Web sites, SAR learned the tile in question is part of a 'dragon set' comprising three tiles, and evolved from a more complex version which was engraved with the Chinese character for dragon.