Late Qing style

Cross-comparison

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

• [1] the 1903 (Li) column scores YES on the Chinese Classical hallmarks (10/20 for mahjong plus points for sets, count then double, concealed sets rewarded, East pays and gets double) and NO on discarder-pays-all, self-pick reward and settlement between non-winners. Its similarity score is 8 to itself, 6 to Mauger, 6 to Chinese Classical, and only 2 to HKOS
• [2] records that in the Late Qing period the game was also known as peng hu, 'encountering harmony', which is contemporaneous terminology for the period this node covers

Reading it

Sloperama's early-forms table puts numbers on this node. The 1903 Li column scores YES on all four Chinese Classical hallmarks and NO on the three new-style ones, and rates 6 similarity to Chinese Classical against only 2 to HKOS. That is independent structural support for placing Li 1903 on the ancestral side of the tree.

Sources

1. Sloper, Tom. "Comparative Analysis of Early Mah-Jongg Forms." Sloperama. canonical checked 2026-09-18

   Chinese Archaic, Late Qing and Pre-Classical rule comparisons.

   https://www.sloperama.com/mahjongg/analysis.html

   Also cited on: Chinese archaic, Chinese pre-classical, Hong Kong old style, Japanese classical / arushiiaru · bibliography #4

2. Stanwick, Michael and Hongbing Xu. "Flowers and Kings." themahjongtileset.co.uk. cross-check checked 2026-09-18

   Early ma que tile-set research underlying the Hua Maque and Wang Maque material.

   http://www.themahjongtileset.co.uk/tile-set-history/flowers-and-kings-an-hypothesis-of-their-function-in-early-ma-que/

   Also cited on: Proto-mahjong · bibliography #26