In old days, people will be proud to present a name card with the title of manager, today people appearing as founders or cofounders seem even more admirable. Entrepreneurs are associated with leaders with good team-building skills, being innovative, creative, full of passion and courage, good at problem-solving and ready to create impact in a field or industry.
Derived from the word entrepreneur, there are the “Technopreneurs” in the technology field, Sociopreneurs who create financially sustainable social enterprises by applying principles of business to unfulfilled social needs, ecopreneurs starting green businesses or intrapreneurs who re-invent within big organizations. I make up the term mahjopreneuers for fun to describe some young people I encounter recently in Hong Kong who like us, founded businesses related to mahjong.
Among these, Liu Yan is one of the most remarkable young entrepreneurs I met. He founded a new mahjong club called Mahjong Battle Stadium 牌藝攻防 and the mahjong championship I mentioned in the earlier episode of Mahjong crossover Festival. While many people worry about the young generations and talent drain problems in Hong Kong, seeing young people like him, you will have a different perspective. You will find that Hong Kong is still full of hope with a lot of passionate and smart young talents like Liu Yan. He put ideas into action and move diligently and persistently toward his goal step by step. They also mileage on Hong Kong’s unique position as a place where east and west meet. With a worsening relationship between China and the United States, this is particularly relevant and important. Being Chinese, Hong Kong people fully understand and enjoy the Chinese culture, like the game of mahjong. Being global citizens, we are bilingual or even multi-lingual and are ready to be good ambassadors to foster communication and interaction between the two polarized worlds. Liu Yan is going to Vienna to participate in the World Mahjong League and to gain experience to reach his goal.
Today I am going to share his stories. Sorry that the interview was conducted in Cantonese, so please read the English subtitles in case you cannot understand the language.
Glocal Mahjong and Liu Yan both share the missions to uplift the image of mahjong from being a tool for gambling in old Chinese perception. Glocal Mahjong sees mahjong as something cultural and creative as stated in our tagline, “Mahjong connects and inspires”. Liu Yan’s try to upgrade the game to professional tournaments with regular championships. Hope we can collaborate in the near future to run a full-scale Glocal Mahjong Day in Hong Kong with the local and world championship, giant mahjong games, bazaars, talks and exhibitions, which becomes a world-famous signature festival from Hong Kong.
