What is xiangqi？
3 min readXiangqi is the classic Chinese popular board game，usually known as Chinese Chess or Elephant Chess.It is played on a board nine lines in width by ten lines in length.The pieces，marked with an identifying character，are placed on the points of line intersections as in weiqi.There are two opposing sides-red，which moves first，and black.The central row of squares is called the”river.”Each side has apalace that is three lines by three lines（i-e.，nine positions）in the center of that side against the back edge of the board.Each side has 16 pieces，red or black.
What is the history of xiangqi？
Xiangqi is evolved from an ancient Chinese game called liubo，which was invented some 3，500 years ago.It is said that it was invented by King Zhou of the Zhou Dynasty.In early times，xiangqi was also called“xiangxi”，the Elephant Games）.There are two possible reasons.First of all，the game pieces of general and soldiers in liubo were made of ivory and so called xiangqi，xiang meaning “elephant.”Secondly，Chinese were known to incorporate elephants in military battles.The legendary Huang Di of 4，000 years ago allegedly had a fleet of elephants in his army，and it is recorded that elephants were used in combats during the Han Dynasty.
During the Northern and Southern Dynasties，a king called Wudi（武帝）of the Northern Zhou State was good at xiangqi，and he wrote a book entitled Way to Play Elephant Game .During the Tang Dynasty，xiangqi evolved into a game of generals，horses，chariots and soldiers that was more complicated than previous games.In the Song Dynasty，xiangqi developed rapidly，and the modern game began to take shape.New pieces，such as the cannons，the guards and the elephants were added.Between the Ming and Qing dynasties，the red and black sides each had its own typical pieces，marked with identifying characteristics.For example，one side hadthe general，and the other side the king；one side had the elephant，and the other side the minister.
What are the basic rules of xiangqi？
Like international chess，Chinese chess is easy to learn，but difficult to play.
The basic movements are as follows：
laojiangshoushengong：The general only moves one point horizontally or vertically.It cannot move diagonally，and it cannot leave the palace.The king and the general cannot face each other on an open file.
xieshibaojiajian：A guard moves one point diagonally.It has one restriction in that it cannot leave the palace.This means that there are only five points which it can occupy.
xiangzoutian：An elephant moves two points diagonally.It may not leap over occupied points.Moreover，elephants are confined to their home side of the river.Due to these limitations，the elephant can see only seven points on the board.The symbols on red and black elephants differ，but their moves are the same.
chexingyixian：The chariot moves in a straight line，forward，backward，or sideways.
mazouri：A horse moves one point at a right angle with its original position and the one point outward-diagonally.It may not leap over occupied points.That is，if the first point of a move is blocked by a piece，then the horse may not move in that direction.
gezifeipao：A cannon moves like the chariot.It captures an opponent piece by jumping over one piece.But it may never jump over more than one piece in a given move.
bingzububuxiangqian：The soldier can move only one point forward at a time.Once a soldier crosses the river，it acquires the power to move sideways，but it can never move backwards.When it reaches the opposing back rank，moreover，it can only move sideways.
