Zung Jung

Assessment

Confidence

documented a published ruleset or rule description exists and is cited

Evidence

conflicting sources disagree materially, or one source contradicts itself

Cross-comparison

What each source was read to say, set side by side. The numbers are the sources above.

• [2] the designer's own official site, carrying version 3.3 of the system and his book Zung Jung: a Perspective of Mahjong History. It gives no creation date for the system
• [10] describes the general landscape of attempts at an international scoring standard, of which Zung Jung is one, and notes that most are not widely accepted
• [2] Read at the source again. The home page says the system 'is being adopted by the World Series of Mahjong' but that the site's contents 'are not official rules for the World Series of Mahjong'; it closes 'created Jan 2007'
• [11] Read at the source. 'The set of patterns adopted by Zung Jung are largely based on that of Modern Japanese mahjong', then filtered: Prevailing Wind dropped, All Green and patterns tied to tile drawings rejected, 'Original Call' rejected (the book adds that riichi is left out)
• [12] Read at the source (chapter 19, appendices D and E). 'Zung Jung v1.0 set out from the start as an improved version of Japanese mahjong' (中庸v1.0 本來就是作為日本麻雀的改良版那兒出發). v1.x was compiled while Kwan studied at the University of Toronto, to teach housemates, and counted faan; v2.x, published after he returned to Hong Kong, switched to additive points. In 2007 he became rules director of the World Series of Mahjong. No year is given for v1 or v2
• [13] Read at the source. The World Series rules set no minimum and allow the chicken hand, as classical rules did; the second World Series banned it, which Kwan says made small hands more common; the v2.0 prize format has applied from the third
• [3] Read at the source. 'Zung Jung is a competitive variant released in 2004 by Alan Kwan. Development allegedly started as early as 1997.' Infobox: 14-tile dead wall, not replenished
• [4] Read at the source. 'Zung Jung was invented by Alan Kwan in 1997'. Lists World Series events in 2007, 2008, 2010 and 2013, with 2015 to come. Says the World Series rules require at least one pattern to win, unlike basic Zung Jung; Kwan's 2016 essay says the World Series allows the chicken hand and only the second event banned it
• [5] Read at the source. Rules 'developed by Alan Kwan as a slight modification of his Zung Jung (中庸) pattern-based scoring system'; no Prevailing Wind. Events in Macau, June 2007, September 2008, August 2010 and December 2015
• [14] Read at the source. In February 2007 Sloper reports the Macau 'World Series of Mahjong', 15-17 June, 'using Alan Kwan's Zung Jung rules', while the WMO was sanctioning its own 'World Series' of regional events
• [15] Read at the source. Gives unofficial names: 'World Series of Mahjong rules, Australian Rules, Asia-Pacific Rules, International Style Mahjong, and International Tournament Rules'
• [16] Read at the source. The World Series 'last tournament was held in 2015'; its site worldmahjong.com was down (it is now a domain for sale)
• [17] Read at the source. Places Zung Jung in the 'New Style' family, says its pattern list 'is largely based on that of modern Japanese Riichi Mahjong' and that 'Alan Kwan himself began as a Riichi player'
• [3] Re-read at the source on 2026-10-16. It still gives a 2004 release with development 'allegedly' from 1997, and says Round Winds are not used. Its setup section says that if East wins the seat winds do not rotate and East deals again, while its own infobox gives 'Continuous Dealer Wins: No' and the designer's rules say East never repeats the deal
• [6] Read at the source (version 2.2). The Zung Jung Movement, an initiative of the San Diego Mahjong Club, sets rules for one-day club events (Community Series of Mahjong, SoM League) and two-day events (Regional Series, New World Series of Mahjong). They use Zung Jung v3.3 and say they are based on the 2015 World Series of Mahjong rules of World Mahjong Ltd. Appendix A.6 reproduces the tournament-format section of 'World Series of Mahjong 2018' unchanged: a format introduced in 2010 and continued in 2015, with match points equal to the square root of a session score. The deal always passes. The tournaments page listed no upcoming events on 2026-10-16
• [7] Read at the source (narkive's copy of rec.games.mahjong; the same messages are in the Internet Archive's Usenet backup). On 17 September 2003 a player compares the English v2.4 with the Chinese v2.51 of the 'Zung Jung System'. Kwan, posting as 'tarot' with his signature and site home.netvigator.com/~tarot, replies the same day that he is updating the English document
• [18] Read at the source (narkive's copy). On 12 September 2003 Kwan argues that Chinese Official and the WMPA rules were developed without the combinatorics they needed and closed to development too early, then adds that developing WMPA further would end in Zung Jung
• [19] Read at the source (narkive's copy). On 28 December 2006 a poster links world-series-mahjong.com and asks whether it is a formal competition under Zung Jung rules. Others ask how widely 'this Zung Jung (ZhongYong) ruleset' is played and are told 'it's the first time it's really put to use'. They give Kwan's new site under home.netvigator.com/~tarot/Mahjong/ZungJung/, compare the hands to Japanese mahjong without dora and riichi, and put the entry fee at over US$1000
• [20] Read at the source (wikitext). The Japanese article says the World Series adopts Kwan's 中庸麻雀得点計算法, citing his old netvigator site, and that in Japan it is also written ワールドシリーズオブ麻雀. Events: 15-17 June 2007 (265 players from 10 countries), 19-21 September 2008 (302 from 15), 28-31 October 2010 and 5-6 December 2015, each cited to worldmahjong.com/ja/ event pages. Japanese players placed 4th and 5th in 2008 and 2nd in 2015
• [21] Read at the source (wikitext). It names the organiser 世界競賽管理有限公司 and lists Wynn Macau in 2007 and 2008, the Venetian Macao in 2010 and 2015, and Sydney in 2013, when the company licensed the Australian Mahjong Association and The Star to hold the fourth World Series on 2-4 June. Entrants must be 21. It does not mention Zung Jung, and its opening line dates the first event to 2009, against its own list
• [22] Read at the source. World Mahjong Limited announces the 'fourth WSOM Championship' at the Venetian Macao on 5-6 December 2015. It lists land qualifiers in Hong Kong, Canada (River Rock Casino Resort), Guangzhou, Japan, Australia and the Philippines (City of Dreams, Manila), and free practice and online qualifying on PerfectPairs Gaming/GigaFunTown. It calls the World Series of Mahjong Rules the only standardised mahjong rules with a tournament record, and names the 2007, 2008 and 2010 champions
• [23] Read at the source. On 10 August 2008, previewing the second World Series in Macau, Sloper calls Kwan's WSOM rules 'based mainly on HKOS with some patterns borrowed from other Chinese variants'. He gives a $5,000 buy-in and a $1,000,000 top prize, and mentions a riichi mini event organised by Jenn Barr
• [8] Read at the source. Moegirlpedia's page on fan types gives 中庸麻雀 44 patterns (48 with flowers) in 10 categories (11 with flowers). It says standard Zhongyong has no minimum and scores a patternless chicken hand at 1 point, while the official variant sets a 5-point minimum and treats a chicken hand as a false win
• [24] Read at the source. Moegirlpedia's general article lists 中庸麻雀 among competition rules: created by the Hong Kong scholar 关兆豪, little played, and set out in 《中庸麻雀史观》. Its variants are popular in Australia: the Australian Mahjong Association's rules with a 5-point minimum, and the Asia Pacific Mahjong championship's rules, which add patterns and change the payment. It cites mahjongaustralia.com.au and apmahjong.com.au for these, and says Sichuan mahjong took Zhongyong's place among international competition rules after 2014
• [9] Read at the source, together with its linked two-page 'Points Scoring Sheet' (an image PDF dated 5 August 2013, read as images). Asia Pacific Mahjong is a Sydney club-tournament business of World Club Games Pty Ltd, founded in July 2013, with a season leaderboard. The page does not name Zung Jung
• [2] Read at the source (home page). The Chinese section calls the system 中庸麻雀計分法 and says 世界麻將大賽 adopts it. The Japanese section calls it 中庸麻雀得点計算法 and links Kwan's Japanese rules summary, pattern list and uniform payoff page
• [2] Re-read at the source to check McGill's claim about a minimum. Standard Zung Jung has none, but Kwan gives a 5-point 'official variant' and says the World Series may possibly adopt it
• [25] Read at the source. 'Zung Jung' is Cantonese Jyutping (Zung1 Jung4) for the Confucian 'Middle Way'. Kwan presents the system as the mahjong that would exist had development always taken an ideal path, and argues from the classical change from East-doubling to discarder-doubling payment, the breakdown of faan under inflation, and the minimum requirement
• [26] Read at the source (a book chapter, written for v3.2). Kwan's standard rules include no sacred-discard prohibition, the deal passing after every hand with no East repeat, and a 14-tile dead wall
• [27] Read at the source. A Japanese player writes that the World Series of Mahjong in Macau and the Mahjong Masters in Sydney both use rules derived from 中庸麻雀得点計算法 (中庸ルール). Kwan, rules director of the World Series, conceived v1.x while studying at the University of Toronto and completed it after returning to Hong Kong. The post praises the absence of a minimum and of furiten for teaching beginners

Reading it

The rules are primary-sourced and settled: 136 tiles, no flowers, a 13-tile hand, Kwan's additive patterns, the winner alone scoring, and no minimum in standard play. A 5-point minimum is Kwan's own 'official variant', which explains McGill's claim about the World Series. The date and the parentage remain in conflict. Usenet shows point-scored v2.4 (English) and v2.51 (Chinese) published by September 2003, so the Mahjong Wiki's 2004 release is too late. Baidu Baike's 2006 (unread) and the official site's 2007 are later still. v1.x goes back to Kwan's undated Toronto years. The chart's '2000s' fits v2 and the tournament era. On parentage, Kwan says the patterns come from modern Japanese mahjong and that developing the WMPA rules leads to Zung Jung. Sloper (2008) calls the WSoM rules 'based mainly on HKOS', and Kwan himself frames the payment as the ideal end of the Chinese classical-to-Hong Kong line. Tournament play is now documented. The World Series announced Zung Jung rules in December 2006 and was held in 2007, 2008, 2010, possibly Sydney 2013, and 2015. The ZJM Competition Rules (2026) adapt the 2015 WSoM rules, and Australian leagues play derivatives. The WSoM rules text itself is still wanted.

Looked for, not found

• Law Not looked for in law databases. The World Series was a private skill tournament in Macau casino hotels with casino-hosted qualifiers, and no statute or regulation naming Zung Jung or the event is known.
• Historical The earliest contemporary records of the system are the rec.games.mahjong posts of 2003-2007, entered as forum. The Internet Archive's Usenet backup begins in July 2003, and nothing earlier was found.
• Journalism News reports of the 2013 Sydney and 2015 Macau events turned up (Macau Daily Times, Malay Mail/AFP, Sing Tao 2013, 蕃新聞 2015, Asian Pacific Post) and are listed unread in the newspaper channel notes. None found names Zung Jung.
• Rulebook No rulebook by an author without authority over the game was found. The printed ZJM Competition Rules is entered as tournament rules, and the WSoM rules wanted entry is re-filed under tournament-rules.
• Commercial The online platforms that offer Zung Jung (Red Dragon, ZJMJ, Riichi Advanced, Maque Games; formerly Mahjong Time, Four Winds and GigaFunTown) are listed in the app-stores note. Their rules pages were not read.
• Collection No museum, library or archive record bears on a scoring system published on the web from 2003. NDL holds nothing under its names.

Known, not yet read

Sources that look worth having but could not be read for this entry. If you can reach one, it can be read and added. Every variant’s list is gathered on Missing sources.

• Forum BoardGameGeek. "2007 World Series of Mahjong: overview and day 1." Thread 171631 — A first-hand report from the first World Series of Mahjong, the event that introduced Zung Jung to tournament play.
  Where: https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/171631/2007-world-series-of-mahjong-overview-and-day-1. Tried: The page returns a script shell without content; the XML API now requires authorisation.
• Tournament rules The World Series of Mahjong tournament rules (Kwan's three-language edition) — The 'slight modification' of Zung Jung actually used in competition, in English, Chinese and Japanese. It would settle the minimum-hand question and show how far the 2026 ZJM Competition Rules depart from it; the ZJM rules reproduce only its 2018 tournament-format section.
  Where: Wayback Machine captures of world-series-mahjong.com (2006-2008, including /mahjong-japanese/), wsom168.com and worldmahjong.com (2010-2018, including /ja/ and /world-series-2015/). Tried: On 2026-10-16 every request to web.archive.org (CDX and id_ captures) was reset inside this environment's proxy tunnel, a failure on our side that another network may not have. The live domains were dead or for sale in earlier passes. The rules were re-filed from rulebook to tournament-rules.
• Organisation World Series of Mahjong, 2007 history page (wsom168.com) — The organiser's own record of the first event, cited by Wikipedia. The Japanese Wikipedia also cites worldmahjong.com/ja/ pages for each year (2007, 2008, 2010, 2015).
  Where: Wayback Machine, capture of 18 July 2011; worldmahjong.com/ja/イベント/過去のイベント/ pages. Tried: The Wayback Machine returned nothing in an earlier pass. On 2026-10-16 every connection to web.archive.org was reset inside the proxy tunnel, a failure on our side.
• Official rules Early Zung Jung v1.x and v2.x texts (e.g. Usenet rec.games.mahjong posts) — Would date the system's first public release. Usenet shows v2.4 (English) and v2.51 (Chinese) online by 17 September 2003; v1.x, from Kwan's Toronto years, is undated.
  Where: Kwan's old site home.netvigator.com/~tarot/Mahjong/ (and /Mahjong/ZungJung/, 2003-2007) in the Wayback Machine; rec.games.mahjong before July 2003. Tried: The Internet Archive's FULL-USENET-BACKUP rec.games.mahjong item was read in full: it begins on 1 July 2003 and already shows v2.4 and v2.51. Google Groups refuses automated readers (429). On 2026-10-16 the Wayback Machine connection was reset inside the proxy tunnel, a failure on our side.
• Tournament rules Mahjong Australia (Australian Mahjong Association). "Traditional scoring pattern (NSW)." — Moegirlpedia cites it for the Australian Mahjong Association's Zung Jung variant with a 5-point minimum. The association ran the 2013 Sydney World Series, per Chinese Wikipedia.
  Where: http://mahjongaustralia.com.au/en/information-nsw/traditional-scoring-pattern-nsw. Tried: The site itself answered 404 on 2026-10-16. The Wayback Machine could not be reached through the proxy the same day.
• Guide Barr, Jenn. "Jenn's Corner #14: Playing in the World Series of Mahjong." reachmahjong.com — A first-hand account of play under the WSoM rules by the organiser of the 2008 riichi mini event. A search snippet says it judges the rules more luck-dependent than the others.
  Where: https://reachmahjong.com/?p=87. Tried: The site presents a self-signed TLS certificate (its own configuration), so it was not read.
• Encyclopedia Baidu Baike. 「中庸麻雀」 (item 5550214) — Its search snippet dates Kwan's system to 2006, another date to weigh against 1997, 2003, 2004 and 2007.
  Where: https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E4%B8%AD%E5%BA%B8%E9%BA%BB%E9%9B%80/5550214. Tried: Baidu Baike answered 403 on 2026-10-16.
• Guide Zhihu column. 「【自然麻将史观】1.5 中庸麻雀」 — A Chinese history-of-scoring series with a section on Zung Jung, likely to discuss its sources and dating.
  Where: https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/655394262. Tried: Zhihu answered 403 on 2026-10-16.

Where it was searched

Every place the search checklist names for this variant’s languages, and what each gave, including nothing. The last full pass was on 2026-10-16.

Names searched: English Zung Jung, ZJ, Zung Jung Mahjong, Zung Jung Mahjong Scoring System, ZhongYong, Zhong Yong, World Series of Mahjong rules, WSoM rules, International Tournament Rules, ZJM Competition Rules; Chinese 中庸麻雀, 中庸麻將, 中庸麻将, 中庸麻雀計分法, 中庸麻雀计分法, 中庸, 世界麻將大賽規則, Zung1 Jung4; Japanese 中庸麻雀, 中庸麻雀得点計算法, 中庸ルール, 中庸, WSOMルール, 世界麻雀大会ルール, ワールドシリーズオブ麻雀ルール.