The Origin of Go and Its Cultural Connotation

In this era of Mencius, there has been a "good chess player" known to all vassal States, and Mencius also took this as a small example. Even if you learn to play chess, you can't learn it without concentration. Although there was no chess manual handed down at that time, it can be concluded from the side that Go has developed considerably, at least you can't learn it without studying hard.

However, during this period, due to geographical reasons and the occupation of the north by nomadic people such as Xiongnu, China had no contact with western countries. It was not until the Western Han Dynasty that Zhang Qian sent a mission to the Western Regions that China had cultural exchanges with Central Asian countries. But at that time, Weiqi had a long history in China.

2. The development and change of the name of Go.

When modern people say chess, they basically agree with chess, including Go, Chess, military flags and so on. But at the earliest time, chess was devoted to Go. Xu Shen in the Eastern Han Dynasty said in Shuo Wen Jie Zi: "Yi, Weiqi is also. Cong bi It's also sound. All the ancient sounds of sheep are divided into five parts. "

Ancient Chinese characters are hieroglyphics of two people playing chess hand in hand.

Playing chess is Weiqi, and the name "Weiqi" has developed from it. At the end of the Western Han Dynasty, Yang Xiong said in dialect: "Go is a game, a game between Qilu and Kanto." The pass here refers to the ancient Hangu Pass, not the present Shanhaiguan Pass. It can be seen that in the year of the Western Han Dynasty, chess became another name for Go. Only parts of the north are still playing chess. By the Eastern Han Dynasty, Weiqi had been widely used in written language, such as Ma Rong's Weiqi Fu and Li You's Weiqi Name.

In the evolution of Weiqi, there are many interesting names besides Yi and Weiqi. For example, black and white, black heron, forgetfulness, seclusion, rotten ke, wood leaf fox and so on. Jin You's poem "Watching Chess":

Woodleaf fox climbs jade, egrets fight for black and white.

When the sword soldiers saw the decadent years, the tears in the Fiona Fang world all condensed.

Heluo is a thousand miles away to be rectified, and Wutu Wan Li is to be repaired.

Why talk about state affairs, forget your worries and sit and hide until dawn.

This is the most unique poem in the history of China Weiqi. It ingeniously embeds the eleven nicknames of Go into the poem, which is exquisite and seamless. However, at the end of the development of Weiqi, the word "Wei", which summarizes the strokes of Weiqi, was preserved.