Xiangqiisatwo-playerChineseboardgameinthesamefamilyasWesternchess.Thepresent-dayformofXiangqioriginatedinChinaandisthereforecommonlycalledChinesechessinEnglish.ThefirstcharacterXiangherehasthemeaningimageorrepresentational,henceXiangqicanbeliterallytranslatedasrepresentationalchess.ThegameissometimescalledelephantchessafteranalternativemeaningofXiangaselephant.
Xiangqihasalonghistory.Thoughitspreciseoriginshavenotyetbeenconfirmed,theearliestliteraryreferencecomesfromthe9thcentury.
Xiangqiisoneofthemostpopularboardgamesintheworld.DistinctivefeaturesofXiangqiincludetheuniquemovementofthepao(cannon)piece,aruleprohibitingthegenerals(similartochesskings)fromfacingeachotherdirectly,andtheriverandpalaceboardfeatures,whichrestrictthemovementofsomepieces.棋子的名称：
2Rooks(R)(orchariots)车
2Knights(N)(orhorses)马
2Elephants(M)(orbishopsorministers)象
2Mandarins(G)(oradvisorsorassistantsorguards)士
1King(K)(orgenerals)将
2Cannons(C)炮
5Pawns(P)(orsoldiers)卒
这里有一些各种棋子的走动规则：
Rooks
TheRookmovesasanorthodoxRook.
Knights
TheKnightmovesonepointorthogonallyfollowedbyonepointoutward-diagonally.Itmaynotleapoveroccupiedpoints.
Elephants
TheElephantmovesexactlytwopointsdiagonally.Itmaynotleapoveroccupiedpoints.Also,Elephantsareconfinedtotheirhomesideoftheriver.Duetotheselimitations,theElephantcanseeonlysevenpointsoftheboard.
Mandarins
TheMandarin(orGuard)movesonepointdiagonally.Itmayneverleavethepalace.
KingorGeneral
TheKingmovesasanorthodoxKing,butcannotmovediagonally.Itmayneverleavethepalace.(SeeKingformoreinformation.)[ThesymbolsonredandblackKingsdiffer,buttheirmovesarethesame.]
ThetwoKingscannotfaceeachotheronanopenfile.Forexample,aredKingone1andablackKingone9,withnopieceonthee-filebetweenthem,isanillegalposition.IfeitherKingsitsexposedonanopenfile,theotherKingmaynotmovetooccupythatfile.
Cannons(Pao)
TheCannonmovesdifferentlywhenitmovestocapturethanwhenitmovespassively.
TheCannonmovespassivelyasanorthodoxRook
TheCannonmovestocaptureasanorthodoxRookwhichisrequiredtohopoverasinglescreen.
Inotherwords,Cannonscapturebyhopingoverasecondpieceinordertocaptureathirdpiece.Forexample,aCannonona1cantakeapieceonf1whenexactlyoneofthepointsb1,c1,d1,ore1isoccupiedbyapieceofeithercolor.Cannonsonlycapturewhenhopingandonlyhopwhencapturing.Theymayneverhopovermorethanonepieceinagivenmove.
Pawns
UnlikeorthodoxPawns,theXiangqiPawn'spassivemoveandcapturemovearealwaysthesame.AstartingPawnmovesonepointstraight-forward.APawncrossingtheriverpromotes,keepingitsoldmoveandgaininganewmove--aone-pointsteptoeitherhorizontal.Pawnsdonotpromoteonthelastrank,wheretheycanmoveonlyleftorright.
