Chinese chess is more than a classic strategy game. It’s also a fun, practical way to learn Chinese through repeated, meaningful use of basic words and phrases.
Chinese chess, 象棋 (xiàngqí), can also be a window onto the culture behind the language. The pieces, the board, and the way people talk about the game all tell you something.
You will also encounter references to the game in the media. For example, one of the first books I read in Chinese was 棋王 (Qíwáng) by 阿城 (Āchéng), often translated as The Chess Master.
It’s a famous story about an obsessive chess player during the Cultural Revolution. The language is not trivial, but it is fairly approachable for intermediate students, and there is also a film version that can serve as listening practice.
Tune in to the Hacking Chinese Podcast to listen to the related episode (#303).
Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube and many other platforms!
- Learn Chinese by playing games
- Learn Chinese by playing Chinese chess (象棋, xiàngqí)
- How to play 象棋 (xiàngqí)
- Similar but different; watch out!
- How to play Chinese chess in Chinese
- Beginner strategy tips for chess players who feel lost
- Learn Chinese by playing Chinese chess with these word lists
- 10 ways of using games to learn and teach Chinese
Learn Chinese by playing games
Games are great for learning and teaching Chinese because they combine meaningful communication and learning by doing.
Many games can be played even by beginners after a quick explanation and with the support of a cheat sheet. This is true both for Chinese chess, 象棋 (xiàngqí), which is the topic of this article, and Mahjong, 麻将 (májiàng), which I’ve written about elsewhere.
While Mahjong, 麻将 (májiàng), is a great game for teaching numbers and some vocabulary, it also has a few downsides. For example, it requires four players, and unless you play very long games, you need a lot of luck to win.
Chinese chess, 象棋 (xiàngqí), is for two players and contains no luck at all. If 麻将 (májiàng) is similar to many card games, 象棋 (xiàngqí) is, as the name implies, closer to chess. The games are probably also related, but more about that later.
Learn Chinese by playing Chinese chess (象棋, xiàngqí)
Before we start talking about the game itself, let’s sort out the name. In Chinese, it’s called 象棋, xiàngqí, literally “elephant chess”. This is unambiguous.
In English, the game has many names:
- Chinese chess (not to be confused with Chinese checkers, which is a completely different game and has no connection to China or Chinese)
- Elephant chess (a direct translation of the Chinese name)
- Xiangqi (to avoid confusion, some people use the Chinese name in English too)
Here’s what my set looks like (not my picture):
How to play 象棋 (xiàngqí)
象棋 (xiàngqí) is similar to “normal” chess (“western chess” or “international chess”) in many ways. If you can play one, learning the other is not hard.
If you don’t know how to play any similar game, it is basically about taking turns moving pieces on a board with the goal of threatening and trapping the opponent’s general.
Beyond the general, you also have guards, elephants, horses, chariots, cannons and pawns. These move and capture the opponent’s pieces in distinct ways, not unlike the pieces in Western chess.
The family resemblance is not accidental. Most historians see both as branches of the same family tree, usually traced back to an Indian war game called chaturanga, which spread west to Persia and Europe and east to China and other parts of Asia. Exactly how this developed in China is still debated, but modern 象棋 clearly belongs to the same broad chess family as international chess and Japanese shogi, among others.
Similar but different; watch out!
If you have more than cursory experience with Western chess, learning 象棋 is easy, and the skill set required to play well is similar. There are a few things to watch out for, though:
- Pieces are placed on the intersections of the lines, not inside the squares, on a 9 by 10 grid with a river in the middle.
- The generals, who play the role of kings, are locked inside a three-by-three palace and can only move one step at a time along the lines, so they feel much more restricted than kings in chess.
- The two generals are not allowed to “see” each other along an empty file, so a move that clears the file and leaves them facing each other is illegal.
- Cannons move like rooks, but must jump over exactly one piece when capturing, which has no equivalent in international chess. This is extremely confusing before you get used to it!
- Horses move almost like in Western chess, but not quite. They first move one step orthogonally, then one diagonally, which means they can be blocked if the first move is blocked.
- Elephants move two points diagonally and are not allowed to cross the river, so they are purely defensive pieces and much less active than bishops.
- Soldiers (pawns) never promote but gain sideways movement after crossing the river, so there is no long pawn chain or promotion race as in chess.
- The starting position is much more open, with no “pawn wall”, so chariots, cannons and horses are active from the very first moves, and attacks start much earlier.
- Stalemate counts as a loss for the side that cannot move, not a draw, which changes how many endgames are played.
You do not need to memorise all this to start using the game to learn Chinese, but knowing that these differences exist can help you understand why your Chinese friends keep telling you that your knight cannot move there or that your move is illegal because the generals can see each other.
The games are similar enough that you can explain 象棋 by explaining how it’s different from international chess.
How to play Chinese chess in Chinese
Playing 象棋 doesn’t require you to say anything at all, but you do need to be able to recognise the pieces. Unlike in international chess, the pieces are only distinguished by which characters are written on them.
Note that the red and black pieces use slightly different characters, even if their functions are identical. Here’s a short overview of both the names and how the pieces move and capture:
- The general, 帅 (shuài) for red and 将 (jiàng) for black, stays inside the palace and moves one step at a time up, down, left or right.
- The two guards, 士 or 仕 (shì), also stay inside the palace and move one step diagonally.
- The two elephants, 象 or 相 (xiàng), move two steps diagonally and cannot cross the river.
- Horses, 马 or 馬 (mǎ), move one step orthogonally and then one step diagonally, but are blocked if a piece stands next to them on the first step.
- Chariots, 车 or 車 (jū), move any number of points in a straight line.
- Cannons, 炮 or 砲 (pào), move like chariots, but when they capture, they must jump over exactly one piece.
- Soldiers, 兵 (bīng) for red and 卒 (zú) for black, move one step forward before crossing the river and can also move sideways after crossing, but never backwards and never more than one step at a time.
There are many small rule details that I will not go into here. Just as with Mahjong, there are regional rule differences, but they are less dramatic than the differences between various Mahjong rule sets.
If you want a beginner-friendly introduction to how to play, there are many clear video tutorials in both English and Chinese. Search for “how to play xiangqi” or “象棋 入门” and pick one that suits your language level.
Beginner strategy tips for chess players who feel lost
If you know some international chess, your instinct will probably be to control the centre, develop your pieces and castle early.
Chinese chess has similar ideas, but the details are different enough that your intuition might lead you astray at first.
Here are a few general principles that are helpful when you start:
- Activate your main pieces quickly. Chariots and cannons are your most powerful attackers. Try to bring at least one chariot and one cannon into useful positions early, rather than wasting time moving soldiers that block your own pieces.
- Use files, not squares, to control the centre. There is no set of four central squares as in chess. Instead, the central file is a major highway. Putting a chariot or cannon on that file can create long-term pressure on the enemy general, even from far away.
- Do not block your own horses and cannons. Since horses can be blocked by adjacent pieces and cannons need a screen to capture, careless moves with soldiers or guards can cripple your own army. Before each move, ask yourself whether you are closing your own lines.
- Keep your palace structure healthy. Elephants and guards form a natural defensive shell around the general. Sacrificing one of them too early often leads to unexpected checks and simple mates, especially from enemy cannons.
- Be prepared for fast, sharp play. Because the starting position is open and there is no pawn chain, attacks start very quickly. It is often worth giving up material to gain the initiative, for example, pushing a soldier across the river to create threats against the palace.
You don’t have to become a strong 象棋 player to benefit from the game as a language learning tool, but having some idea about what to do makes the game more enjoyable.
Learn Chinese by playing Chinese chess with these word lists
Below, I have included the basic vocabulary you need to start playing and talking about the game in Chinese. Here is a guide to how the pieces move with very clear graphics (and text in Chinese if you want it).
General vocabulary for playing
- 下棋 (xiàqí) “to play chess, Chinese chess, Go, etc.”
- 象棋 (xiàngqí) “Chinese chess”
- 棋盘 / 棋盤 (qípán) “chess board”
- 棋子 (qízǐ) “chess piece”
- 红方 / 紅方 (hóngfāng) “red side”
- 黑方 (hēifāng) “black side”
- 轮到你了 / 輪到你了 (lún dào nǐ le) “your turn”
- 走棋 (zǒuqí) “to make a move”
- 吃 (chī) “to capture a piece”
- 将军 / 將軍 (jiāngjūn) “check”
- 将死 / 將死 (jiāngsǐ) “checkmate”
- 和棋 (héqí) “draw”
- 认输 / 認輸 (rènshū) “to resign, to admit defeat”
- 赢了 / 贏了 (yíng le) “(I) won”
- 输了 / 輸了 (shū le) “(I) lost”
The board and moving
- 楚河汉界 / 楚河漢界 (chǔhé hànjiè) “Chu River, Han Border”
- 九宫 / 九宮 (jiǔgōng) “palace”
- 中路 (zhōnglù) “central file”
- 角 (jiǎo) “corner”
- 路 (lù) “file”
- 线 / 線 (xiàn) “rank, line”
- 进 / 進 (jìn) “advance”
- 退 (tuì) “retreat”
- 平 (píng) “move horizontally”
Pieces
The two sides use different characters for some pieces. In modern simplified sets, some of these differences disappear, but many physical sets, including many used in mainland China, still use the traditional forms on the pieces.
General
- Red: 帅 / 帥 (shuài) “general”
- Black: 将 / 將 (jiàng) “general”
Advisors or guards
- Red: 仕 (shì) “advisor, guard”
- Black: 士 (shì) “advisor, guard”
Elephants
- Red: 相 (xiàng) “elephant”
- Black: 象 (xiàng) “elephant”
Horses
- Simplified, both sides: 马 (mǎ) “horse”
- Traditional red: 傌 (mǎ) “horse”
- Traditional black: 馬 (mǎ) “horse”
Chariots
- Simplified, both sides: 车 (jū) “chariot”
- Traditional red: 俥 (jū) “chariot”
- Traditional black: 車 (jū) “chariot”
Cannons
- Red: 炮 (pào) “cannon”
- Black traditional: 砲 (pào) “cannon”
- Black alternative and many simplified sets: 炮 (pào) “cannon”
Soldiers or pawns
- Red: 兵 (bīng) “soldier”
- Black: 卒 (zú) “soldier”
If you are just starting out, it can help to keep a list of the characters and their names next to the board. After a few games, you see them so often that you will not need the cheat sheet any more.
10 ways of using games to learn and teach Chinese
Chinese chess is just one example of a game that can help you learn Chinese. Mahjong, card games, word games, mobile games and video games can all be turned into language learning tools if you pay attention to the input they offer and make sure to use Chinese, not your native language, whenever possible.
If you want more ideas for how to bring games into your learning, I have written a separate article about this: 10 ways of using games to learn and teach Chinese
Whether you play Chinese chess in a park in Beijing, in a Chinatown, or on your phone, you are not just moving pieces. You are giving yourself another reason to use Chinese in a way that feels like play, not homework.
