Chapter 19 Section 2 The Origin of Chess

Regarding the origin of Chinese chess, we should first start with the name of chess. According to the earliest legend in our country, Xiangqi was invented by Yu Shun to teach his younger brother to play chess. Because his younger brother's name is Xiang, it is called Xiangqi.Some people think that the name of chess comes from the sentence "菎 [kun Kun] hides chess, there are some Liubo" in the book "Chu Ci·Calling the Soul" written by Qu Yuan's disciples during the Warring States Period, or from Liu Xiang's "Shuo Yuan". It contains Meng Changjun's saying that "Yan fights chess and dances Zheng Nu".Some people also believe that chess was born in the fourth year of Tianhe, Emperor Wu of the Northern Zhou Dynasty (AD 569). Emperor Wu of the Northern Zhou Dynasty Yu Wenyong [yong Yong] made the "Xiang Jing", which has images of the sun, moon and stars, and the name of chess comes from this.Others say that ancient chess pieces are made of ivory, so it is called chess.Of course, there are many other theories.Why are there so many different opinions about the origin of the word chess?This is actually a debate reflecting the origin of chess.Not only are there various controversies within our country, but there are also great controversies abroad.India said that chess originated in India, and Egypt said that chess was invented by them. There are really different opinions.It was not until the past hundred years that the origin of chess was relatively concentrated in China, India, Iran or Egypt, and China and India were the most likely.The British William Jones pointed out in his book "History of Chess" that there are elephants in chess, but China did not produce elephants in ancient times, but India produced elephants. This is why chess originated in India and was introduced to China from India. evidence of.Some chess historians in the former Soviet Union further believed that Indian chess was introduced to China around 570 AD.Because according to Chinese historical records, the name of Xiangxi began in the fourth year of Tianhe, Emperor Wu of the Northern Zhou Dynasty.These claims are without sufficient basis.China has had elephants since ancient times, and elephant warfare was used in ancient wars.Not to mention that there was chess in ancient legends very early. As far as the exact written records are concerned, the word chess appeared in "Chu Ci·Calling Soul" in the Warring States Period more than 2,400 years ago. How can it be said that chess originated from India? What about incoming?Not long ago, chess historians in Britain, Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union all began to hold a negative attitude towards the Indian origin theory of chess. It is pointed out that chess is a creation of the Chinese people, and it is a game created by the ancient Chinese to simulate war. In the 1980s, academician Chelekov, an orientalist of the former Soviet Union, once wrote an article that chess was created and invented by the principle of yin and yang and eight trigrams in Chinese.

There is not enough evidence for the introduction of chess from India to China, but there is indeed evidence for the introduction of ancient Chinese chess games to foreign countries.As far back as the Western Han Dynasty, Chinese Go, Liuboqi, Tanqi, and Chu Chu Pu had been introduced to India.During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the Xiangxi created by Emperor Wu of the Northern Zhou Dynasty was introduced to Japan, and the Japanese adapted it into today's Japanese shogi.In the Tang Dynasty, Niu Sengru's "Baoying Chess" was also introduced to Japan.As for the national chess of Asian countries such as North Korea, Myanmar and Thailand, it is even more similar to the shape and structure of ancient Chinese chess in different periods, and has the same origin.

In addition, the chess pieces in the Tang Dynasty were three-dimensional pictographic, especially the chessboard was composed of 64 squares in black and white, but such a chessboard was not used in Europe before the 13th century AD.In addition, more than 700 years ago, there was a chess record written in "Shi Lin Guang Ji" edited by Chen Yuanliang in the Southern Song Dynasty in my country, while the Indian chess record was much later.The earliest chess manual (chess) in Europe is "Chess Arrangement Collection" published in Spain in 1495, which is more than 300 years later than the publication of chess manual in my country.

From this point of view, not only is Chinese chess created and invented by the Chinese people, but it was gradually developed and reformed from the ancient Liubo chess, and chess, which is widely popular in the world, may have the same origin as Chinese chess.Chess is a civilization product of human wisdom and an excellent cultural heritage of our country.We should cherish it, inherit it, carry it forward, and promote it to the whole world, so that people all over the world can share the fun of chess and benefit from it.