Mysteries and Wonders in Traditional Chinese Puzzles

2 min read

The Chinese have always been concerned about the all-round development of man.Confucianism Lemphasizes the six classical arts of rites，music，archery，riding，writing and arithmetic，which cover almost every discipline and skill.As exercise for the mind，traditional Chinese puzzles are not only entertaining but also educational.

Huarong path，together with the magic tube invented by the Hungarians and the diamond chess from France，are praised as the three incredible examples of puzzles.

It is based on a chapter in Romance of the Three Kingdoms,a famous novel about the competition forpower among the three kingdoms led by Liu Bei, Sun Quan and Cao Cao respectively. Huarong path is where General Guanyu, brother of Liu, out of loyal gratitude, deliberately lets Cao, who had been defeated by the allied forces of Liu and Sun, escape. The puzzle Huarong path is a rectangular board with 10 pieces, including the biggest one(Cao Cao), five generals half his size, and four soldiers one unit smaller than the generals. The piecesare arranged in certain ways and only one piece can be moved every time, until Cao moves to the exit and escapes.

With several hundred possible ways of arrangement, this puzzle has engrossed mathematicians the world over.

Qiqiaoban(literally seven boards of cunning),a square cut into seven pieces to be reassembled into over 1,600 different figures, has become popular in China ever since the Ming and Qing dynasties. Also known as Tangram, it is a puzzle that fascinates the world. Napoleon reportedly played it to pass the time during his days of exile.

Legend has it that the luban lock was invented by the famous artisan Gongsun Ban of the state of Lu in the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 BC). It is composed of six pieces of wood with notches. Without one nail or one cord, these pieces fit together perfectly. Ancient Chinese architecture is featured by such structures, with the girders, pillars, purlins and rafts all joined ingeniously by the notches.

Popular from the Song Dynasty, the Chinese ring puzzle is composed of nine rings and a handle(sword).

The challenge is to remove the rings from the handle and put them back again. It tests skills of mathematics and spatial ability. You can also make figures like a floral basket and palace lantern with the rings.

Other puzzles like gongdaobei(the fair cup), yinshuiniao (drinking bird), lubanqiu(Luban Ball), sixiren(figure celebrating four happy occasions), gobang and nine lattice puzzle are all fantastic mind exercises. The Chinese is an old nation but is young at heart. Having proved its ingenuity with the four great inventions (paper-making, compass, gunpowder and movable type), the accurate pi and the magnificent works like the Great Wall, everydayChinese lives are also full of excitement. For them, the ultimate purpose of life is to be happy, and they seem to know the secret of happiness.