Fuddland

With the weather warming up [that is, above zero for most of the day], more and more people are spending their time outdoors — men sitting chatting with friends, women singing together, both playing cards, or, like the people I snapped out of the window of my flat, having a game of “Chinese Chess”.

The game is called xiáng qí [(象棋), Elephant Game]. I was given a brief overview of the rules [which bears very little resemblance to the “Western”, or Orthodox Chess I know and love, beyond some similarities in the names of pieces and the way some of them are allowed to move] the other day, but I’ve not played through a proper game yet. There is a general, his guards, some advisors [or knights], vehicles of some sort [like the rook of Orthodox Chess], cannons, soldiers and, of course, elephants.

When I know and understand more, I’ll be able to properly describe the game, and who knows, maybe I’ll pluck up the courage to challenge one of these chaps? From watching them, I think part of winning is the aggressiveness with which you can slam your pieces down onto your opponent’s when capturing them.