Chinese teachers detained and demoted for playing mahjong at home
- Group had gathered to play the popular game during the school holidays
- Police seize average of US$350 per person, but the amount that can legally be bet on mahjong is capped at US$30 per person in Yunnan province
Six teachers in southwest China have been detained, fined and demoted after they were caught playing mahjong at home.
They were among 12 people who had gathered at the home of one of the group in Yongsheng county, Lijiang, last month during the school holidays, local media reported.
Yongsheng police detained all 12 for 10 days and they were fined 500 yuan (US$75) each, except one – not a teacher – who was fined 3,000 yuan for providing the premises. The teachers, who worked at two primary schools and a kindergarten in the county, were also demoted by the local education bureau, according to the report.
Gambling is illegal in China, but mahjong – the tile-based game popular in the country – falls into a grey area. It is customary to bet a small amount of money as part of the game, but the amount that can legally change hands differs across China. In Yunnan province, where the teachers were detained, the limit is just 200 yuan per person, while in the city of Wuhan, in Hubei, it is 1,000 yuan per person.
Local news site Yunnan.cn reported that police confiscated 28,800 yuan, putting the average amount of money per person at 2,400 yuan (about US$350), well over the province’s limit.
The police arrested the teachers at the home and reported the case to the Yongsheng county education bureau, a spokesman for the bureau told news site Thepaper.cn.
“The education bureau places great emphasis on the ethical conduct of teachers,” the spokesman was quoted as saying.
The Yongsheng education bureau has issued a series of guidelines on teacher conduct, including strictly prohibiting gambling, since 2016, the report said. Its guidelines are in line with a broader campaign to stamp out gambling in the county, especially by civil servants.
The local education bureau has described betting as “a threat to society” and said staff who gambled would be severely punished.
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In this case, the principals of the school districts where the teachers worked were also disciplined and disqualified from this year’s teaching excellence awards, according to the report.
But on Chinese social media, the detention of the teachers has generated heated debate, with many people sympathetic to the teachers.
“This is an overreaction – can’t the teachers have some entertainment during the holidays?” one person said on microblogging site Weibo.
