Proto-mahjong › Chinese classical › Shanghai / Hong Kong new style › Hong Kong old style › Zung Jung
Zung Jung
Alan Kwan, 2000s
Cross-comparison
partial — sources agree on some points and are silent or divided on others
| Source | Tiles | Hand | Flowers | Scoring | Payout |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| [1] | 136 | 13, out on 14 | none | points-based; doubles built into the system | winner only |
| [2] | 136 in 34 designs, four identical tiles of each | 13 | none in the scoring system; bonus tiles noted as an optional addition some players make | 44 patterns in categories and series, additive, with no basic points at all | only the winning hand is scored; the winner collects from the other three by a payoff scheme |
- [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
- [3] 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
Reading it
The rules are now primary-sourced: Alan Kwan's own site gives 136 tiles, a 13-tile hand, 44 additive patterns with no basic points, and winner-only payment, all matching Sloperama. That is the strongest evidence any node in this compendium has, because it comes from the system's designer. The date and the parentage remain open: the official site gives no creation date, so the chart's 2000s against the wiki's 1990s is still unresolved, as is whether Zung Jung descends from Guangdong Style or sits beside it.
Sources
Sloper, Tom. "FAQ 2b: Identifying a Mah-Jongg Variant." Sloperama. cross-check checked 2026-09-18
Tile counts, hand sizes, flower handling and scoring for roughly 50 named variants. Primary source for most leaf nodes in this chart.
https://www.sloperama.com/mjfaq/mjfaq02b.html
Also cited on: Chinese archaic, Chinese pre-classical, Chinese classical, Shanghai / Hong Kong new style, Hong Kong old style, Modern HKOS and 43 more · bibliography #1
Kwan, Alan. Zung Jung Mahjong Scoring System v3.3, official website. cross-check checked 2026-09-18
The designer's own site and rules text: 136 tiles in 34 designs, only the winning hand scored, 44 patterns with an additive rule and no basic points. Also hosts his book, Zung Jung: a Perspective of Mahjong History.
https://www.zj-mahjong.info/zj33_rules_eng.html
Only cited here · bibliography #57
Wikipedia. "Scoring in Mahjong." cross-check checked 2026-09-18
Comparative scoring across Hong Kong, Chinese Classical and Taiwanese systems, including the range of minimum-point conventions and the Mandarin and Cantonese terms for a scoreless hand.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scoring_in_Mahjong
Also cited on: Chinese classical, Modern HKOS, Taiwanese style, Tui Dao Hu · bibliography #55
Mahjong Wiki. "Zung Jung Overview." mahjong.wikidot.com. canonical
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:zung-jung-overview
Only cited here · bibliography #45
Kwan, Alan. Zung Jung scoring system. supporting
Named on the wiki and independently documented; the World Series of Mahjong used a modified form of it.
http://mahjong.wikidot.com/rules:zung-jung-overview
Only cited here · bibliography #30