Mahjong characters · 索子 suǒ zi

What are the bamboo tiles in mahjong?

Bamboo sticks are bundles of a hundred coins on a cord. Like the dots they carry no writing, and the one bamboo is a bird on virtually every set ever made.

Every face in this suit

On the tile	Called	Reading	What it is
—	一索	yī suǒ	1 of bamboo — On most sets the 1 of bamboo is drawn as a bird, not a stick.
—	二索	èr suǒ	2 of bamboo
—	三索	sān suǒ	3 of bamboo
—	四索	sì suǒ	4 of bamboo
—	五索	wǔ suǒ	5 of bamboo
—	六索	liù suǒ	6 of bamboo
—	七索	qī suǒ	7 of bamboo
—	八索	bā suǒ	8 of bamboo
—	九索	jiǔ suǒ	9 of bamboo

There is no writing on these tiles at all, and that is genuinely useful if you are learning: a face with a character on it lets you read the answer off, while a face with pips makes you produce 六 liù from nothing. Recall is what builds memory; recognition mostly feels like it does.

The characters, off the table

These are ordinary words. Each one is taught somewhere in an HSK course, and here is where:

Character	Reading	Meaning	Taught at
一	yī	one	数字零到十 · HSK 1
二	èr	two	数字零到十 · HSK 1
三	sān	three	数字零到十 · HSK 1
四	sì	four	数字零到十 · HSK 1
五	wǔ	five	数字零到十 · HSK 1
六	liù	six	数字零到十 · HSK 1
七	qī	seven	数字零到十 · HSK 1
八	bā	eight	数字零到十 · HSK 1
九	jiǔ	nine	数字零到十 · HSK 1
索	suǒ	rope, cord	摸索模范与魔术 · HSK 6

Save this suit as one card

The same faces as a single image, sized for a phone screen: tap it, then pick 9:16 for TikTok or Reels, 4:5 for a feed, or 1.91:1 for a link preview.

Play with the real tiles

The full set — all 34 faces, a dealt hand to read, a matching game, a 听牌 puzzle and the words spoken at the table — is on the main mahjong page. Tap any tile there for its reading, stroke order and the lesson that teaches it.

The other suits: Characters Dots Winds Dragons · All the mahjong cards