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The two pictures above is the standard Xinjiang agate Go. The go
is made of good quality agate and price is 500 usd including shipping
to anywhere around world.I will tell more about Go's History and information
about it in the silk road Xinjiang. The picture at the bottom is the
old go in Tang Dynasty.
This year's International Weiqi Contest was held in our neigh-
boring country, Japan (where thegame is called'go ). Weiqi (Chinese
chess, a game played with black and white pieces on a board of 36l
crosses) has a long history and originated in China .
Weiqi was invented in remote antiquity. There are clear records of
the game dating from the Spring and Autumn (770 B.C.-476 B.C.) and
Warring States (475-221 B.C.) periods. Confucius once said of Weiqi:
"One can become clever by playing the game." Later Mencius
said:
"One cannot play the game well without concentrating the mind."
Weiqi is not just a game of recreation, but an intellectual pastime
re-
volving knowledge of mathematics,logic, strategy and military science.
A stone board, 69 cm.on a side and 14 cm. high, with 17 lines and
289 crosses, was found in a tomb from the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-
220 A.D.) excavated at Wangdu county, Hebei province in 1952.
This. is the earliest discovery so far of a Weiqi game. Weiqi was introduced
into the Xinjiang area no later than the Tang Dynasty.A Wooden
Weiqi board 18 cm, on a side with 19 lines and 361 crosses was unearthed
in the tomb of Zhang Xiong, a Tang Dynasty general at Astans, Turpan
in Xinjiang. This Weiqi board is small in size and was placed in the
tomb as an ornament or symbol; it was not for practical use.
Playing Weiqi is like fighting a battle. Each side tries to defeat the
other. When two persons sit face to face and play Weiqi, it is as if
two
armies were facing each other, ready to charge. The board is the
battlefield. In his lifetime, Zhang Xiong was a capable general and
a
master of defense and attack. In his command tent he worked out
strategies that assured victory for his armies. The unearthed Weiqi
board implies that Zhang was a masterful player of Weiqi as well.
According to historical records, Weiqi started with 17 lines. During
the Sui and Tang dynasties, the number of lines increased to 19. This
fact was confirmed by the unearthed archaeological objects in Xinjiang.
The silk painting Tang Court Iadies Playing Weiqi, which has
attracted worldwide attention after being unearthed in a tomb in
Astana, Turpan, is a very important archaeological discovery of the
Silk
Road area. On the painting's left side is a dignified looking, full-
figured court lady with an elaborate hair- style decorated with precious
ornaments, a colored spot on her forehead (of religious significance),
dressed in a red gauze robe with a flower pattern and wearing a yellow
jade bracelet on her wrist. This is the typical dress of Tang noblewoman.
In the painting the lady is looking attentively at the board and holding
a piece between her slim index and middle fingers, hesitating over
where to place the piece on the board. The fresh and bright-colored
surface, delicate and even lines and skillful strokes reveal the high
artistry of this painting. It is a gem of Tang court art.
Weiqi was very popular in the Tang Dynasty. A poem by the noted
Tang poet Liu Yuxi reports that men along the Yangtze River and
soldiers of Dongling read art books and play Weiqi in their leisure
time. With the opening of Silk Road and the increasing contacts with
foreign countries, Weiqi was introduced to the Western Regions as
early as 1,300 years ago. It also traveled to Japan and later to
Europe and the Americas. Today it is an international sport.
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