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BEFORE I came to China, I’d never even heard of this game.
But it has no shortage of enthusiasts in China, evidenced by the
fact that even the most insignificant, junior level tournament
is likely to be broadcast on TV. The game I am referring to is
go, or weiqi in Chinese. Some Europeans mistakenly
believe the game to be Chinese chess, but that is a different
game entirely.
Asia alone has about 25 million go players, with the best
of these based in China, Japan and South Korea. Go has indeed
spread as far as Europe and the United States, where there are
about 100,000 and 20,000 players respectively, but these are,
compared with the Oriental masters, amateurs.
The rules of the game are simple, and can be explained in 10
minutes, but go takes years to master. As the saying goes
in China, “You have to lose your first 100 weiqi games
as soon as possible.” The rules of this ancient game have
remained the same for centuries.
Go is played with small round stones known as go shi.
These days, you can buy go sets with plastic or glass pieces,
but the traditional set includes 180 white clamshell stones, and
181 black slate stones. The piece should be held between the tips
of the index and middle fingers. Go sets also contain small
wooden or plastic bowls to hold the stones. These are shaped like
flattened hollow spheres, and their lids are used to hold stones
that have been captured from the opponent.
Go is played on a square board with horizontal and vertical
crossing lines. Board sizes can be 9x9, 13x13 or 19x19 lines,
with the latter being the official size used in tournaments.
The game begins with an empty board. It differs from other board
games in that the pieces are played on the intersections of the
lines, rather than inside the squares. Another difference is that
black usually makes the first move. White only moves first if
the person with those stones has a lower skill level than black.
The aim of the game is to conquer a larger section of the board
than your opponent. The stones on the board, as well as the spaces
they encircle, count as conquered “territory.” One can
capture his opponent’s territory by surrounding one or more
of his stones.
Experts say the real game only begins after 30 to 50 moves have
been made – those before are merely aimed at “scouting,”
or sounding out the opponent. Once the game has begun in earnest,
it usually takes another 200 to 250 moves to complete.
Weiqi has been played in China for thousands of years.
The oldest 17x17 board ever found was unearthed in Wangdu County,
Hebei Province, and dates back to the Han Dynasty (206 BC –AD
220). And one silk painting from AD 750 depicts weiqi players
crowded around a board.
But according to legend, the game is much, much older –
some experts believe it to be 4,000 years old. It is said that
the semi-mythical Emperor Yao of the 23rd century BC invented
the game to educate his son Dan Zhu, and named it yi.
During the Zhou Dynasty (1046-256 BC), the theory of yin
and yang (a reflection of the structure of the universe
and all it contains) took shape. It appeared that the game of
weiqi had direct links with the cosmos. The famed ancient historian
Ban Gu (32-92 AD) wrote in his book, The Essence of Go,
“The board is square, representing the laws of the earth.
The lines must be straight like divine virtues. The black and
white stones represent yin and yang, and their arrangement
on the board is like a model of the heavens.
It was during the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476BC) that weiqi
became fashionable as a pastime. During the Sui (581-618 AD) and
the Tang (618-907) dynasties, the game spread to Korea and Japan.
And it was during the Tang Dynasty that the 19x19 board appeared
for the first time.
Strangely enough, the great sage Confucius was not a fan of weiqi
– in fact he regarded it as one step up from gluttony and
idleness. The game of go nevertheless went on to become
one of the four arts that every Chinese intellectual should master,
along with calligraphy, painting and music.
Weiqi is documented in another well-known book, Collection
of Carefree and Innocent Pastimes (Wang You Qing Le Ji), written
in the 12th century. It begins, “The number of all things
in Nature begins with one. The points on the go board number 360
plus one. One is the first of all living numbers. It occupies
the polar point of the board around which the four quarters revolve.
The other 360 points represent the number of days in a (lunar)
year. They are divided into four quarters which represent the
four seasons...”
In many ways, the game of go employs similar strategies
to those used in military operations. The ancient name for the
game translates as “surrounding stones,” and the players
do battle for territory just as generals might in real life. Many
of the moves relate to martial arts, for instance, block, push
and throw. Another ancient book, Go Manual (Qijing Shisan Pian)
was modeled after the world-famous Art of War by Sun Zi,
and even Mao Zedong encouraged his comrades to study the game
to sharpen their strategic thinking. Weiqi is much more
than just a game.
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