How Many Styles of Guangdong Mahjong Are There?
Guangdong Mahjong has a long history, and exactly how it developed is hard to trace. Today, four main “schools” are popular in Guangdong: Jiping Hu, Tui Dao Hu, New Rules, and Old Rules.
The two most mainstream ones are:
Jiping Hu — the most widespread style in the Pearl River Delta. It emphasizes Jihu, Pinghu, and Baohu, has a fast pace, and clear rules.
Tui Dao Hu — most popular in Shenzhen and Dongguan. It is simpler and more direct: no chow, only pong and kong, with emphasis on kong and “buying horses.”
Below we focus on Jiping Hu. Once you learn it, Tui Dao Hu is basically easy to understand at a glance.
First, Know the Tiles
Guangdong Mahjong has a total of 136 tiles (some variants add flower tiles to make 144, but mainstream play does not use flowers).
Number tiles (108): characters (wan), dots (tong), and bamboo (tiao, also called sou). Each suit runs from 1 to 9, with four copies of each tile.
Honor tiles (28): East, South, West, and North (wind tiles), four copies each; Red, Green, and White dragons (zhong, fa, bai), four copies each.
Basic Actions: Chow, Pong, Kong, Win
Chow — you can only chow the tile discarded by the player before you. For example, if you have 2 wan and 3 wan, and the previous player discards 1 wan or 4 wan, you can chow to form a sequence. In Guangdong Mahjong, only Jiping Hu allows chow; Tui Dao Hu does not allow it.
Pong — no matter who discards the tile, if you have two identical tiles, you can pong. Pong has priority over chow.
Kong — if you have three identical tiles and someone discards the fourth, you can kong; or if you draw the fourth yourself, you can also kong. After a kong, you draw a replacement tile.
Win — form “4 sets + 1 pair” and you can win. For example, 4 sequences or triplets, plus a pair.
The Three Win Levels in Jiping Hu
The core of Jiping Hu is three terms: Jihu, Pinghu, and Baohu, from low to high.
Jihu (Chicken Hu, 0 fan, 1 point)
The lowest level. Any hand can win; it can have sequences or triplets. It is the “as long as you can win” level.
Pinghu (1 fan, 2 points)
A little better than Jihu. It requires all sequences, no triplets, and the pair cannot be a scoring tile (for example, you cannot use dragons as the pair).
Baohu (2 fan, 4 points)
The next level up. Common Baohu hands include:
- All Pungs: all triplets, no sequences.
- Mixed One Suit: the whole hand is made of honor tiles + one suit (for example, all wan and honors).
Hands Bigger Than Baohu
Baohu is the “cap”; normally the fan count stops there and does not stack further. But some special hands can break the cap — those are the truly big hands.
Pure One Suit (4 fan, 16 points): the whole hand is one suit, such as all wan, with no honor tiles.
Mixed Pungs (4 fan, 16 points): Mixed One Suit + All Pungs.
Small Three Dragons (5 fan, 32 points): among Red, Green, and White dragons, you have triplets in two of them and use the third as the pair.
Pure Pungs (5 fan, 32 points): Pure One Suit + All Pungs.
Big Three Dragons (6 fan, 64 points): triplets of Red, Green, and White dragons all present.
Big Four Winds (6 fan, 64 points): triplets of East, South, West, and North all present.
Thirteen Orphans (6 fan, 64 points): 1 and 9 wan, 1 and 9 tong, 1 and 9 tiao, East, South, West, North, Red, Green, and White — one of each, plus any one of them as the pair.
Nine Gates (6 fan, 64 points): one suit forms 1112345678999; win on any tile of that suit.
A Few Key Rules So You Don’t Fall into Traps
Missed-win rule: If you are already ready and the next player discards a tile you can win on, and you choose not to win, then if the opposite player or previous player later discards the same tile, you cannot win either — unless in between you pong, kong, or draw a tile.
Multiple wins on one discard: If one discarded tile can be won by two or more players at the same time, all count as wins. But if the dealer is among the winners, the dealer continues as dealer next round.
Robbing the Kong: When someone declares an exposed kong (after ponging and drawing the fourth tile), if you can win on that tile, you can directly “rob the kong” to win. Concealed kongs cannot be robbed.
Paying for a self-draw: If someone discards a tile that causes a player to have “twelve tiles melded” (that is, they have already ponged, chowed, or exposed-konged 12 tiles, leaving only a single-tile wait), then if that player self-draws and wins, the player who discarded that tile must pay on behalf of the other two players as well.
Heavenly, Earthly, and Human Hands: If the dealer wins on the initial hand, it is “Heavenly Hand”; if a non-dealer self-draws in the first round, it is “Earthly Hand”; if a non-dealer wins on the dealer’s first discard, it is “Human Hand.” All are 6-fan big hands.
What’s the Difference Between Tui Dao Hu and Jiping Hu?
If you play in Shenzhen or Dongguan, you will most likely play Tui Dao Hu. The main differences are:
- No chow, only pong and kong.
- No fan calculation, only “big win” and “small win.”
- Generally only self-draw wins; you cannot win on another player’s discard.
- It has buying horses: guess who will win; if you guess correctly, you win along with them.
In short, Tui Dao Hu is simpler than Jiping Hu and is suitable for beginners.
Three Practical Tips for Beginners
1. Don’t chow too eagerly. In the first few rounds, except for edge waits and closed waits, it is best not to chow two-sided waits. Wait until the previous player discards it later — there is no rush.
2. Pay attention to what the next player discards. If the next player throws 8 and 9 wan, it means they may still have 4 and 7 wan. Be careful discarding 4 or 7 wan, or you may deal into a win.
3. After the game is half over, don’t pong wind tiles randomly. In the later half, don’t pong wind tiles discarded by the previous player (unless ponging makes you ready).
The biggest feature of Guangdong Mahjong is that fan values double with each level, and it encourages big hands — Jihu can win, but it won’t win much money. Real experts hold out for big hands like Pure One Suit or All Pungs. So the saying goes: The essence of Guangdong Mahjong is to encourage everyone to go for big wins, not to be a chicken.