What is the origin of chess in China?

First, there are many theories about the origin of chess:

1, Shennong family originated from the legendary era. Monks in the Yuan Dynasty often said in the Biography of Buddhism: "Shennong takes the sun, moon and stars as images, and cattle, monks and children in the Tang Dynasty replaced them with chariots, horses, scholars and soldiers with guns."

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The Yellow Emperor originated from the legendary times. In the Northern Song Dynasty, Huang Bu's Preface to Guang xiang opera said, "Like a soldier, the battle of the Yellow Emperor drove away animals and thought that the array was like an elephant, and the animals were heroes. Therefore, soldiers are named after elephants. "

3. The attack originated from Zhou Wuwang. Ming metabolism "Five Miscellaneous Groups" said: "Like a play, it is said that it was made during the cutting week, that is, the flow of the Warring States military strategists and the battle of heavy vehicles."

4. Originated in the Warring States Period. The book of seclusion contains: Zhou said:' If you step in Yanzhou first, you will be able to play chess, which is also a matter of the Warring States. "The Warring States used soldiers, so people used the image of war as a chess position."

5. Originated in Shun period, it is said that Shun's half-brother is called Xiang, lazy and playful. He invented chess.

According to reliable records in ancient books, chess was very popular during the Warring States period. Han and Liu not only quoted the book of seclusion, but also recorded the story of playing chess in the Warring States period: "The first step of a swallow is to play chess, which is also a matter of using troops." There is also a saying in the evocation works of Chu ci in the warring States period that "the chess is thin and six points." All these show that "chess" has become a routine activity during the Warring States period.

So chess came into being before the Warring States Period. But when? Some people think that it can be pushed back to the Spring and Autumn Period, and that chess was produced by imitating the military system at that time. Their basis is that the "image" in chess means "symbol" and has nothing to do with animal images. For example, dancing symbolizes fighting, so it is called "elephant dance", and playing chess symbolizes fighting, so it is called "chess". The names of chess players also come from symbols of different arms. This situation coincides with the military system in the Spring and Autumn Period, that is, the arrow is on the string, handsome, car, horse, scholar, soldier and pawn. Therefore, the emergence of chess in the Spring and Autumn Period was in line with the historical situation at that time. Chess may also be named after the chess pieces are made of ivory.

In early China chess, the chess system consisted of three instruments: chess, chopsticks and chessboard. The two sides play chess, with six players on each side, namely: owl, Lu, pheasant, calf and stopper (two pieces). The chess pieces are carved with ivory. Bam, equivalent to dice, must be thrown before playing chess. The chessboard is a square chessboard. During the competition, "throw six fingers and play six chess games", fight wits and fight bravely, attack and persecute each other and kill each other. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the military system consisted of five men, one handsome man and six men. At that time, as a military training football match, there were also 6 people on each side. It can be seen that early chess was a game symbolizing the fighting at that time. On the basis of this chess system, a kind of chess called "Sai" appeared later, which only played chess without throwing chopsticks, and got rid of the element of winning by luck in early chess.