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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]

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