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CHICHESS.TXT
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1995-08-04
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#<PRE>
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]
#</PRE>