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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ABOUT CHINESE CHESS BY ROLEIGH MARTIN CIS 71510,1042 5511 Malibu Drive Edina MN 55436 8-3-95 Note: please read the file CREATE.TXT first. This is additional information about the game that is helpful for a better understanding of the game but not needed if you already know the computer game and just want to to assemble your own Chinese-Style or Western-Style Chinese/Korean Chess Game using the "kit" I've packaged together in this software package. Chinese Chess is my favorite game. My wife of 17 years is Chinese and I spend about a month a year in Hong Kong where I picked up the game. ADDITIONAL FILES INCLUDED The two GIF files are captured screen images of the game pieces from Xian for MS Windows, software (not the game pieces which are in the public domain) copyrighted by Leong Jacobs Inc., 2729 Lury Lane Annapolis, MD 21401. Use the shareware program, Paint Shop Pro (see the Accessories window for the icon) to open these GIF files. There are two text files explaining the rules of Chinese Chess found on Compuserve, one of which accompanies the XQ and another one which is a stand- alone text file by Kevin Wang [73047,1651] originally named XIANQI.TXT (from the CHESSFORUM on Compuserve), but I renamed it CCHESS.RUL in this ZIP file. The XQ files (XQ.RUL documentation and XQ.EXE freeware game) is by Peter Donnelly. You can use these two ".RUL" files to learn the rules of Chinese Chess. There are two ".SRC" files for additional resources on Chinese Chess and its nearly identical game, Korean Chess (same board/pieces -- different rules). ABOUT THE REAL CHINESE CHESS SET PIECES This file documents the actual Chinese pieces, as they really look in person -- see the file WXIAN_T.GIF ("_T" for traditional), along with the way these pieces look in the Americanized version of Xian for Windows by Leong Jacobs Inc. (see the file WXIAN_A.GIF -- "_A" for Americanized). Chinese Chess is said in Chinese (using English spelling) as Xiangqi, pronounced Shiang-Chi with a longer name emphasizing the word "Chinese" with the pronunciation Chunguo Shiang-Chi. I'll detail the names of the pieces below in both Mandarin (official Chinese of Red China and Taiwan) and Cantonese (as in Hong Kong). The Cantonese is from a Hong Kong book, "Let's Play Chinese Chess" by B. Constantino, pub. by Book Marketing Ltd., HK, 1988. The Pinyin is how you would write Mandarin in English. The Cantonese is shown in the typical English spelling of the Cantonese word. The English name is from the convention adopted by the International Chinese Chess Association as documented in Sloan's Chinese Chess for Beginners book. (See CHICHESS.SRC for ordering information.) Note: the translation of the word "Xiang" is Elephant -- hence the showing of a elephant for the bishop piece. Also, on real Chinese Chess boards, the colors are red and black -- not red and blue (as in the GIF file). CANTO- COORDINATES COLOR ENGLISH PINYIN NESE A0,I0,A9,I9 both Rook Ju Kui B0,H0,B9,H9 both Knight Ma Ma C0,G0 Red Bishop Xiang Sheung C9,G9 Blue Bishop Xiang Cheung D0,F0,D9,F9 both Guard Shi See E0 Red King Shuai Sui E9 Blue King Jiang Cheung B2,H2,B7,H7 both Cannon Pao Pow A3,C3,E3,G3,I3 Red Pawn Bing Ping A6,C6,E6,G6,I6 Blue Pawn Zu Tsut Sometimes you'll hear Chinese Chess players translate the chess pieces to different English names -- the ones above are the "official" English names -- the ones below are others you might hear and they are presented here for you to maintain understanding in real life play: OFFICIAL ENGLISH ALTERNATE ENGLISH NAMES GIVEN THESE PIECES Rook Car Chariot Tank Knight Horse Bishop Prime Minister Elephant Guard Counsellor Advisor King General Emperor Cannon Catapult Pawn Soldier Foot Soldier TRANSLATION TIDBITS The Arabic name for "Chariot" is pronounced "Rook." The Chinese symbol for Chariot is now used for the symbol for a car. In the traditional Chinese Character for the Knight, the "Ma" -- which means "horse, you'll note the four depicted legs in the character -- these are the horse's legs. The historical reason the pieces are depicted differently for both sides (although modern sets use the same depiction for the Rook, Knight and sometimes the Cannon), is that players could tell whose piece was whose even if the colors wore out. For instance, Red has as it's bishop the Chinese Character for Prime Minister, while Green (or Black) has as it's bishop the Chinese Character for Elephant. They both have identical powers however. WRAP UP In ending, I received a post card (my name must have gotten on a mailing list after ordering the Xian software) about the only periodical published in English in America on Chinese Chess, called XiangQi Review, which is a 20 page issue, published 6 times a year for only $10 US and Canada. Write Dave Woo, Chinese Chess Institute, PO Box 5305, Hercules, CA 94547-5305. I've received one issue and it looks good for Chinese Chess enthusiasts. [END OF FILE] #