Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society/Volume 31/The Game of Chap Ji Ki
The Game of Chap-Ji-Ki.
Introduction.
A few words on the peculiar form of gambling propensity called the game of Chap-Ji-Ki, or the Chap-Ji-Ki, before it passes away out of men's mind and becomes one of the dead ghosts of a forgotten past, may not be out of place or devoid of interest even to the general public. The game owed its success and long immunity from punishment to the originality and organising powers of its promoters. It broke up in 1896 when the Government began to hustle and harry the gamesters in real earnest. The Chinese ladies of Singapore found then they could not give their little private card parties in safety yet few women gambled more fiercely or played for higher stakes than these Chinese whilst the fever lasted. Any one who has read of the universal high playing amongst English ladies at Vaux Hall in the days of the restoration of Charles II. will have some faint idea of how passionately absorbed the Chinese women of Singapore were in this new form of gambling. In the hope that a wider knowledge of this game may be generally useful and of special service to others, this little sketch is drawn up.
Gambling is perhaps the commonest form of amusement known to the Chinese. Its speculative character, its prospects of loss or profit, appeal irresistibly to his genius. Out-door sports bave little attraction for him. A mild kick at the flying shuttle cock, a languid dallying with a struggling kite is quite enough for him; when heavy physical exertion is indulged in, be sure there is some utilitarian object in view–a prize in the gymnastic ring or perhaps honours in the military school. From the Chinese point of view, as with us, gambling (whether it be in the form of cards, dominoes, fan-tan, or dice) is per se no vice. It is a only the abuse and misuse of gambling that, to a Chinese mind, constitutes an offence. One's length of days here, is to his mind, but a long game where the cards are always changing, Gambling seems to clear his mind and brace his nerves. It is training ground to him for the real gamble of life. In these sunny Settlements in the Straits of Malacca serious gambling seems to come and go by fits and starts–to break in waves from time to time over the surface of Chinese life, carrying trouble and distress with it amongst many peaceful families
Singapore has been lately visited by one of these periodical gambling epidemics.
Since 1893 there has grown up amongst some of the China-born and amongst all the Straits-born Hokkien and Teo-Chin well-to-do and middle class families in Singapore, a new form of gambling commonly called the Chap ji-ki lottery. In a word, this lottery is won by guessing rightly one out of twelve cards selected from a pack of ordinary Chinese playing cards.
This new form of lottery has within the space of the last twelve months become immensely popular amongst Chinese ladies in Singapore, owing to the popularity of the game and the passion for gambling it excites; the losses that have been incurred have done great harm to and caused much distress and trouble amongst the families of the Chinese resident in Singapore.
If steps had not been taken by Government to deal with the evil, this new Chinese lottery might have become as harmful to the private life of the Strait-born Chinese as the old Hoe-He or Wha-Way lotteries that flourished unchecked in the Straits Settlements some fifteen years ago.
As there seems to be some confusion of ideas abroad as to how the game of Chap-ji-ki played, I propose to explain briefly the manner in which the game of Chap-ji-ki lottery is conducted. The game of Chap-ji-ki itself and the Chap-ji-ki lottery now carried on are different. The Cantonese and Hok-kien way of playing the ordinary Chap-ji-ki game varies a little but is roughly as follows.
The Chap-ji-ki game as played in China.
On a board about six feet long by four feet broad, the names of six Chinese chessmen are carved (the same six figures are found on all common Chinese playing cards, just as the figures King, Queen, &c., on English playing cards are derived from the figures used in chess).
These six figures are called :–
| (1). | Kun | King, |
| (2). | Su | Chancellor. |
| (3). | Chhiun | Elephant, |
| (4). | Ku | Chariot. |
| (5). | Be | Horse |
| (6). | Phau | Bart. |
These six figures are all called "red" cards. There are exactly six more similar figures of the same kind called "black" cards, i.e., there are six red cards and six black cards alike, or 12 cards in all.
The expression Chap-ji-ki means the twelve cards, chap-ji being twelve and the word ki merely a Chinese numerical classifier for the term card.
The playing board mentioned above is placed before the manager (po-koan) of the game. He is provided with twelve wooden chips like cards, cut out of wood, and stamped with the figure of the twelve cards used in the game. These little wooden tallies are kept in a small red bag by the manager's side.
When the manager selects one of these wooden chips (or as we should say) a card for the public to stake on, he takes the selected card out of the red bag and puts it in a little wooden box, and places the box by his side on the table.
The players then sit round the table at the board and stake their money on one of the twelve cards cut out or stamped on the board, placing their stakes on the card or cards they select. In some cases the players are further provided with twelve cards corresponding to and similar to the figures of the twelve cards carved on the board. Players in this case put their stakes on the twelve cards dealt out as well as on the twelve card figures on the board.
When everything is ready, the manager of the lottery takes the card he has decided to open out of the little wooden box, and declares it to be the winning card. If a player has staked on this card, be gets ten times the value of his stake, the remainder of the money staked on cards different from that one selected and declared to be the winning card by the manager, all goes as profit to the manager of the game. In the long run the manager is sure to make a fortune out of the lottery. Such, roughly, is the game of Chap-ji-ki. as it is now played in China.
Chap-ji-ki in the Straits.
In Singapore up till 1894 it was also played in this way by both males and females. During the last eighteen months or so, however, the form of the game has been much altered by Chinese ladies, by whom the game is now almost exclusively played.
It must be borne in mind that the principal changes introduced by Chinese ladies into this game, have been made solely with a view to prevent detection and render it difficult for the police to secure convictions in the Law Courts. The lottery is now managed chiefly by women. The chief changes introduced are as follows:–
The Chap-ji-ki board is entirely dispensed with. Instead of the public being invited to go to a room where a board and other apparatus necessary for the game is furnished, the manager (usually a woman) engaged a large number of collectors (phoe-kha) of stakes (toan) the collectors went round the country and town and touted in all the private family houses to which they could gain admittance, and induced women, children, and servants to stake on some particular card. Asiatic ladies of the upper classes have much spare time on their hands and they are always fascinated by the excitement of gambling, When this excitement degenerates into a vice, diamond jewelry and clothing are freely staked or pawned to get funds to stake with. Collectors find little difficulty in getting support from the public. The staking public runs no risk except that of losing their stakes if the police raids the lottery. As soon, therefore, as the new form of Chap-ji-ki lottery caught on in Singapore, the managers of the chief Kongsi made piles of money whilst the gambling fever lasted.
The collectors or agents receive the money staked from private houses or from friends of theirs whom they allow to do a kind of sub-commission work for them, and wrap it up in packets (hong). On these packets they place symbolic marks to represent the value of the stakes. I give an illustration of the commonest form used:–
Thus the value of a dollar is represented by a cross inside a circle; ten dollars by a circle with a transverse bar; one cent by ―; ten cents by ◯.
These signs are combined or doubled to represent higher values.
There are many other systems of keeping accounts.
Similarly there were many devices adopted to avoid being detected with Chap-ji-ki cards on the person. In some cases, written symbols, strings of beads, in other cases common Chi-ki cards, numerals, a certain number of coppers and dollars, and fancy hieroglyphics would be used. These dodges were adopted to avoid the risk of being arrested in possession of Chap-ji-ki cards. I have drawn up a chart of the various symbols used most commonly in place of the actual Chap-ji-ki. The stake (money or notes) was always put up together with this symbol (whatever form it took) used in place of the Chap-ji-ki cards and carried by the collector to the lottery.
Nothing is ever stated clearly on the writing paper they carry with them. Sometimes the card selected and the money staked on it is represented by some hieroglyphics agreed on between the collectors and their clients written on a small piece of Chinese white paper, sometimes buttons, sometimes beads are used–sometimes the number of spots in a particular kind of handkerchief affected by Straits ladies are made up into a signal code. Very rarely now, if ever, are the Chap-ji-ki cards themselves used. Occasionally twelve particular cards are selected from the straits China-born Malay cards, called Chi-ki cards, and these particular twelve cards are then used to represent the twelve Chap-ji-ki carda.
When the collectors have got in all their stakes, they all assemble at a certain place, at a certain time. This place is always fixed beforehand by the manager; and each collector finds her own way there by herself by a different way. Half an hour after, or so, the manager appears, and the whole party lock the front door for safety; then they either go upstairs or into a back room on the ground floor and open the lottery.
The lottery is managed in the following way. Each collector (who has already brought her money, i.e., the stakes of all her clients) with her and her memorandum (whatever symbolical from it may take) as to which card is staked on, comes forward to a table at which the manager sits and places her hong or packet (i.e., the money staked and the memorandum as to which it is staked on) on the table, when everything has been put on the table, the manager by word of mouth announces the name of the card she has selected and declares it to be the winning card for the occasion. The hongs are then opened and the cards (or the symbols standing for them), compared: the winning packets are put in one heap and the losing packets in another. Ten dollars are paid to winners in return for every dollar staked. Each collector settles with the manager in turn; $1 being paid by the staker to the collector for every ten dollars won. Before the police began to hustle and drive these private lottery card parties, the manager or her husband used to carry the "Bann" to the place fixed on for declaring the lottery. The money in notes and silver would be done up neatly in paper and put in a small tiffin basket, ladies' satchel, or needlework box ready for use. After several prosecutions, however, this practice was given up, and the managers took to paying all the winnings they could with the money actually brought to the meeting as stakes and settled any balance due afterwards, with the collectors' in their husbands, shops. Finally the company breaks up and goes home one by one, so as not to attract notice. Special rickshaw coolies and gharry wallahs were engaged by the collectors to take them about. The manager usually employed a private carriage.
The lotteries were usually opened once or twice a day, once at about mid-day, and once at 8.30 p.m., or 9.30 p.m.,
In some of the lotteries, the amount of each stake was limited to $25 or $50, in other that would be staked was unlimited.
The manager has always one or two partners amongst the collectors. On each occasion a lottery is held these partners are told beforehand where the next place of meeting will be; the other collectors then go next day to the residence of the ladies in partnership with the manager and find out where they are all to assemble for the day's gambling. Sometimes when the police are particularly active the manager will not even tell the partners where the lottery is to be opened. She merely tells the collectors to meet at one of her partner's houses. In such cases the manager later on will go to the place where all the collectors have slowly assembled, and call in on the way and tell them to follow in small groups to such and such a place. The manager then leads the way to the place selected. One day the manager will go to Tanjong Pagar, the next day to Serangoon, and the day after to Teluk Ayer Street. The lottery is never opened in any place more than once at a time. In fact these places change every day.
The places selected are chiefly houses with some means of escape through a back door into back streets or by drying lofts on the roofs into adjoining houses. The occupiers of the houses lent for the purpose of holding these lotteries usually received from $5 to $10 as a fee for lending this accommodation. Further, the male lottery managers managed to keep themselves well informed of what the police were doing by paying gambling informers to protect them. The greatest care, too, was taken to avoid being raided by the police after going out into the streets.
The managers and collectors had assistants regularly employed to act as spies and follow behind them, and give the alarm one or two streets ahead if they saw a suspicious looking gharry or rickshaw following, for, of course, if the collectors were arrested in the streets, all the cards and packets with the stakes were found on their persons.
It is wonderful how long this Chap-ji-ki lottery was carried on with complete immunity. It was excellently organised, and reflects credit on the skill of its promoters. The executive part of the lottery was left almost entirely to Chinese women. A few Chinamen kept in the back ground and controlled their operations.
The distinguishing feature between this Chap-ji-ki lottery and all other forms of gambling of this kind that have hitherto prevailed in our midst is that it was a close one. It was only open to one section of the public, i.e., to woman. It was also confined practically to the Hok-kien and Teo-Chin Straits-born Chinese women.
The women who supported this lottery, too, were mostly the families of the Chinese trading classes of position and standing here. The staking amongst the female members of the very many wealthiest Chinese families here was very large, and in several cases was attended with unpleasant results. It was very difficult to get evidence against the promoters of this lottery. Only collectors were allowed to be present at the opening of the lottery; no one except trustworthy and tried women were accepted as collectors by the manager.
The post of a collector is naturally one of considerable trust and confidence, for the collectors have to pay the winnings to their clients and if they did not do this honestly or if they combined with the manager to cheat the stakers the lottery would have been impossible. But the collectors were well paid, they received at least a commission of ten per cent from the stakers on all money won by them, and in the rare event of getting no commission on any particular occasion, the manager had to make a present of $5 or so to the collectors in proportion to the amount of stakes she had collected, to pay for her transport and other expenses.
The occupation of a collector, therefore, was much coveted, as it was a steady source of income. I am afraid, too, that there can be no doubt that some of the collectors did occasionally make a hook with the manager and let the manager know what card would be best to declare and then shared the profits.
During the last 24 months there have been three large Chap-ji-ki lotterics in Singapore. The game was first started in Johore before it was introduced here.
Roughly speaking the daily total amount won at these three chief lotteries now was about from $300 to $500 or more, and the daily total profit of the managers was large. In some of the lotteries there is no limit to the amount that can be staked. Others are limited.
The solvency of these Chap-ji-ki lotteries was well secured, and commanded the confidence of the female staking public. The husband of the manager may have had sufficient funds to inspire confidence. If he was not a capitalist, two or three ladies of position and property would let it be publicly known that they would be responsible for-so and-so's lottery; and in return for the security thus furnished. these ladies would be taken into partnership by the manager and receive a share of the profits of the particular syndicate they guaranteed. After the Chap-ji-ki lotteries in chief were established and it was seen that big profits were being made, several ingenious spirits opened what they called Chap-ji-ki sub-agencies or branch firms. That is to say, the promoters made arrangments with one of the original chap-ji-ki syndicates by which they would be allowed to declare as their winning card whatever winning card the syndicate declared on any particular day. Some of these Chap-jiki sub-agencies did nearly as much business as the principal lotteries. The Chap-ji-ki sub-agencies were opened in all the chief districts in the town.
Unlike the principal or original Chap-ji-ki, the sub-agency, was open to the general public, and both male and female collectors were employed to collect stakes. After the manager of a sub-agency had got together a small staff of collectors he fixed an some house (usually a private one) which he kept open at all times as a Chap-ji-ki office. The house got known to the public and a number of women would go to the house in person and stake.
When the lottery was to be opened, the sub-manager would state that whatever winning card is declared to-day by so-and-so (one of the principal chap-ji-ki managers) that will be the winning card by which his own lottery will be decided. Directly the principal named had declared his winning card for the day, a messenger would be sent to the sub-agency to state what it was, and the sub-manager then announced it to the party of stakers who had already assembled in the meeting house. Very few precautions were taken in these sub-agencies and they were therefore easier to arrest. The amount staked, however, in the sub-agencies did not amount to more than a hundred dollars or so a day.
G. T. Hare.