Just last year, Chinese state media praised Guandan as the card game that “can get you a promotion in China.”
Open tournaments were held throughout the country and workers were encouraged to use them as a tool for social and professional networking.
Guandan, or “egg throwing,” is a strategy game for two teams of four people. It has been around for decades. It began in Jiangsu Province and was a favorite pastime of former leader Deng Xiaoping.
But the artwork has recently experienced a resurgence, with surveys suggesting there are about 140 million enthusiasts. In 2014, the Jiangsu city government attempted to have it declared an “intangible cultural heritage” and it was featured as part of the 2023 Spring Festival Gala – the annual Chinese New Year television special.
It is a popular pastime for work colleagues on their break and for anyone who wants to socialize with officials, especially in the business world. The game can be quick or last for hours, and provides ample opportunity for conversation around the table.
A Guandan teacher, Ding Hua, said: “It is … fast and very adaptable to today’s fast life. The social significance of Guandan is that it is easy to learn (and) is good for playing before a party,” making it useful for breaking the ice.”
But now the party appears to have fallen out of favor with the ruling Communist Party, which is strongly interventionist and is accused of promoting a “passive attitude” toward work and encouraging the formation of cliques among party cadres.
A series of articles in the state Beijing Youth Newspaper described Guandan as intoxicating and “decadent” and warned that it was “time to control the trend of ‘getting laid’ among all Guandan players”. Laying (affect “Getting angry” (in Chinese) is the term for a social trend among young people who are rejecting stressful jobs in favor of a simpler lifestyle, and which has worried the authorities.
A recently circulated photo from a Chinese workplace showed a “Party Members’ Personal Self-Verification Reporting Form” asking people for details about Guandan players in their workplace and possible cliques.
On Monday, a government agency in Henan province published an editorial saying that there was nothing wrong with playing Guandan, but there were unhealthy trends and a culture of cronyism involved.
“What needs to be criticized is not the Guandan game itself, but the fact that civil servants use egg throwing as a medium to form a long-term, fixed ‘Guandan circle’,” it says.
“Just like golf circles, eating and drinking circles, etc., Guandan also provides a breeding ground for circle culture… If circle culture becomes popular, it will undermine the basic pillars of social fairness and justice and harm the vital interests of the public.”
The article stated that in order to curb the formation of cliques, it is necessary to closely monitor high-ranking figures and severely punish those who form “small circles” for the purpose of their “maximum self-interest”.
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“It is easy to defeat the thief in the mountains, but it is difficult to defeat the thief in the heart,” it was said.
The article said the warnings should be seen in the context of broader government efforts to reduce cliques and factions in other areas of society. China’s leader Xi Jinping has led a huge anti-corruption campaign across the Chinese Communist Party, with millions of officials investigated or punished. Activities such as golf are strictly frowned upon. Outside the party, authorities have targeted online fan groups, excessive gaming and social trends that promote wealth or excess.
Wen-ti Sung, a political scientist at the Australian National University, said: “Card games as a leisure activity are politicized as a sign of economic unproductivity and political nepotism, which in turn are associated with poor performance and political corruption, entailing disobedience to the leadership’s demands for greater … moral purity and discipline.”
The crackdown on Guandan has not gone down well with users. The Beijing Guandan Club posted an angry defense online, asking: “Where did this evil wind come from?”
It said that “circle culture” flourished in China regardless of the sport, pointing to previous badminton and golf hypes among business leaders and officials. “According to the logic of egg-throwing critics, should badminton, table tennis, bridge, golf and other sports also be criticized? Should they also be banned?”
Some online comments suggested that the furor over Guandan might actually encourage more people to play. One wrote: “What the state opposes, the people support.”
