MUZI MUZIChinese Matrix

Board Game Strategy

Joining Go's sense of the whole board with xiangqi's ranked attack and defence, one open and one solid, one soft and one firm, it shows a way of planning ahead.

Spring and Autumn period to present
548 BCE · OriginThe Zuozhuan, recording events of 548 BCE, already uses the image of a player who cannot decide on a move, showing that the board game yi was popular in the Spring and Autumn period.700 · EvolutionBy the Tang dynasty the 19-line board had become the standard form of weiqi, and it spread to Japan with envoys to the Tang.1200 · ImpactIn the Southern Song, xiangqi settled into its modern form of thirty-two pieces divided by the river, and it became widely popular in towns.
ZhouTangSong
Sources (3)
  1. Wikipedia: History of Go
  2. Chengdu Museum: Song chess pieces
  3. China Daily: xiangqi dates back to the Song

Go has an overall view of space, and Chinese chess has attack and defence by clearly ranked pieces, one empty and one solid, one yielding and one hard.

The Zuo Tradition, in its account of events of the twenty-fifth year of Duke Xiang (548 BCE), already uses "hesitating over which piece to play" as a figure of speech, which shows that board games were already popular in the Spring and Autumn period.

By the Tang, the board of nineteen lines had become the standard form of Go, and it passed to Japan with the Japanese missions to Tang China.

In the Southern Song, Chinese chess settled into its modern form of thirty-two pieces and a river border, and was widely played in the towns.

Board Game Strategy is the class in the chapter on Strategies on Go and Chinese chess. Go looks to the space of the whole board, while Chinese chess concerns the attack and defence of ranked pieces, one empty and one solid, one yielding and one hard. Board games were already popular in the Spring and Autumn period, the nineteen-line board became the standard form of Go in the Tang, and Chinese chess took its settled form in the Southern Song and was played in the towns.