You don't want to make any mistake,' Neumann says. At the competitive level, you're demanding of yourself.

While it is a card game, bridge is regarded as a sport and locally is evolving from the social to competitive arena, says George Wong, coach of the Shanghai Professional Women's Bridge Team.

'It's been mostly Chinese players but some expats have played in the past year,' she says, adding that the tournament organizer speaks English. They tended to be intermediate- or advanced-level players but Neumann is keen for more people to get involved and her group is happy to teach interested beginners. Last month 16 enthusiasts played 24 hands over about three hours. So on Friday night at the Banker's Club on the 52nd floor of the Bank of China Tower which offers impressive views of the Bund at night, players ranging in age from 20s to 70s will do battle. Neumann, a member of the Hong Kong Bridge Association, says this prompted her to start the monthly gathering in January last year.

'Here competitive bridge is geared more toward professional players.' 'Unlike other parts of the world, there is no 'regular' organized bridge tournament in Shanghai,' says Nancy Neumann, a managing partner of Hong Kong Executive Search which sponsors the event. Shanghai is no exception and on the third Friday of every month, a group of dedicated players gather at the Shanghai Bankers Club in Pudong for their monthly duplicate bridge tournament. Chinese people love to play cards.Īnd games like bridge, for example, which, although European in origin, have found a neat foothold here with players keen to test their skills at the mind-challenging game. Across Europe they would play in taverns, inns, at countryside homes, in royal palaces, in the mansions of the rich, or in the private rooms of the clergy.Ĭhina was no different.

And why not, some would say.Īfter all, people had plenty of spare time in the evenings as there were no computers, television sets, telephones, fax machines or cars.Īnd it was a great excuse to come together. It is well-held theory that following the invention of paper in China about 2,000 years ago, card playing-around the world-quickly followed.

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