After a battle of 8 rounds, the 4th tournament of World Series of Mahjong concluded in Jeju, Korea on Nov. 14. Chinese players won the team title and Zhou Yong from east China's Yangzhou city won the individual title. Jiao Linghua, a female player from China's Shanxi province won the runner-up and the third place was taken by a French player.

在8轮激战后，第四届世界麻将大赛于11月14日在韩国济州岛落下帷幕。中国选手赢得了团体冠军，来自华东地区扬州的周勇赢得了单人冠军。山西女选手焦灵花获得亚军，季军被一名法国选手摘得。

Zhou Yong, 39, boss of private computer company in Yangzhou, east China's Jiangsu province, feels very excited to win the game, "Foreign players are slightly better in psychological quality, but not as good when it comes to control of detail. After all, we practice frequently and are a little more experienced," said Zhou.

周勇今年39岁，是江苏省扬州市一家电脑公司的老板，赢得比赛让他十分激动。“外国选手心理素质更好一点，但是在对细节的控制上就没那么厉害了。毕竟，我们经常都练着，更有经验。”周勇说。

The ancient game, thought to date to about 500BC, involves 144 tiles showing Chinese characters. It is massively popular in Hong Kong and the mainland. Different rules are used around the world, but organizer of World Mahjong Limited operates a standardized¹ set of rules in international contests.

麻将这项古老的比赛项目可以追溯到公元前500年，一共有144张带中国字的牌。麻将在香港和大陆都非常风靡。世界各地的麻将规则各有不同，但是麻将世界大赛的组织者将比赛使用的规则限制为一套标准化的国际比赛规则。

According to Zhou, the Chinese and Japanese were the only noteworthy teams before, as Mahjong originated in China and Japan also has a professional league playing at a very high level. However the European level has developed rapidly in recent years. The French, Danish and Russian players are strong opponents. Yong said that the European Mahjong players are generally senior intellectuals such as engineers or scientists.

根据周勇所说，以前中国队和日本队是唯一值得关注的队，因为麻将起源于中国，日本也有高水平的职业联赛。然而欧洲的水平近几年长进迅速。法国，丹麦和俄罗斯的选手都是强劲的对手。周勇说欧洲麻将选手普遍是高智商人群，例如工程师或者科学家。

At last year's 5th Open European Mahjong Championship in Strasbourg, France, among the 51 teams, China finished an embarrassing 37th while the top Chinese player, Yan Wenying, was ranked 30th. A Japanese player won the individual competition with a German player coming second. The result sparked somewhat of a fury among many Chinese, who wondered how foreigners could beat them at their national pastime — a game often synonymous with gambling² in the modern age.

在去年的在法国斯特拉斯堡举行的第五届欧洲麻将锦标赛公开赛上，共有51支队伍参赛，而中国队最终以第37名尴尬收场，中国队个人最好成绩闫文英排30。一个日本选手获得了个人冠军，另一德国选手获得亚军。这样的结果在许多中国人中引起不满，大家都不明白外国人是怎么在这项几乎是现代的赌博同义词的全民性娱乐活动上打败中国人的。