Mahjong Compendium

Proto-mahjong Chinese classical Shanghai / Hong Kong new style Hong Kong old style Guangdong style

Guangdong style

1980s, additive scoring

Descends into

Caveat from the source chart

Influenced first by Hong Kong and later by Taiwanese play; a single parent arrow understates this. The late-1980s move to additive scoring is unsourced on the wiki.

Cross-comparison

corroborated — two or more independent sources agree on the facts that define this variant

SourceTilesHandFlowersScoringPayout
[1]13-tile variant13additive
  • [1] Guangdong Style (廣東十三張麻將) is described as popular in South China AND TAIWAN, based on HKOS but using a large number of 'New Style' winning conditions and an additive scoring system. Its timeline reads: 1970s, New Style became associated with gambling in HK and a 'back to basics' variant called Clear Chapter or HKOS was adopted, winning conditions shrunk and fu removed; 1980s, New Style conditions were added back and fan were removed in favour of an additive system, and Guangdong Style was born
  • [2] although Guangdong is a mainland province, Guangdong New Style has more in common with variants coming out of Hong Kong, and Taiwan post-1990s; it never uses Joys or Treasure Tiles, almost always allows multiple winners on a discard, and almost always uses discarder-pays-all

Reading it

Two wiki pages agree that Guangdong Style is a 13-tile game built on HKOS with New Style winning conditions and additive scoring, born in the 1980s, matching the chart. Both also independently support the chart's caveat about influence running two ways: one calls it popular in South China and Taiwan, the other says it has more in common with Hong Kong, and with Taiwan post-1990s, than with its mainland neighbours.

Sources

  1. Mahjong Wiki. "Guangdong Style Overview." mahjong.wikidot.com. canonical checked 2026-09-18

    Cited as the source for individual nodes in the chart's node table. Carries no bibliography or per-claim citations of its own; see the appendix on tracing the wiki.

    http://mahjong.wikidot.com/rules:guangdong-style-overview

    Also cited on: Guangdong MCR / GMCR · bibliography #42

  2. Mahjong Wiki. "Mainland Mahjong Overview." mahjong.wikidot.com. cross-check checked 2026-09-18

    Cited as the source for individual nodes in the chart's node table. Carries no bibliography or per-claim citations of its own; see the appendix on tracing the wiki.

    http://mahjong.wikidot.com/rules:mainland-mahjong-overview

    Also cited on: Mainland regionals, Sichuan bloody rules · bibliography #46

  3. Mahjong Wiki. "Hong Kong Old Style Overview." supporting

    The 1950s simplification, removal of fu, the 1970s 3-3 system, and the late-1980s split into Taiwanese and Guangdong styles.

    http://mahjong.wikidot.com/rules:hong-kong-old-style-overview

    Also cited on: Hong Kong old style, Modern HKOS, Guangdong MCR / GMCR, Taiwanese style · bibliography #8

  4. "Let's Mahjong!" ruleset, as tabulated on the Mahjong Wiki HKOS scoring page. supporting

    Cited as a second fan-list column and treated as the representative New Chapter standard. The wiki describes it as the transition from HKOS to Guangdong Style. It is a ruleset, not a scholarly source, and the wiki gives no publication details for it.

    http://mahjong.wikidot.com/rules:hong-kong-old-style-scoring

    Also cited on: Shanghai / Hong Kong new style, Hong Kong old style · bibliography #28

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