A world of its own, black and white twins, how did Go become popular all over the world?

The silver chessboard of the Tang Dynasty is located in the exhibition hall of the first chapter of Chinese Maritime Civilization of the National Maritime Museum. It is 13 cm square and 5.5 cm high. There are 15 lines on the front of the chessboard, and 5 small dots are marked on the board. There are two "亚"-shaped frames on each side of the chessboard. It is also accompanied by two go pots, made of silver. One pot is wide-mouthed and bulging with a lid, and the other is round and box-shaped. There are several chess pieces in each pot. The overall casting is excellent and well preserved.

Go is one of the oldest chess games in the world. The modern Go board consists of 19 horizontal lines and 19 vertical lines, forming 361 intersections, marked with star points for easy identification of the positions of chess pieces. The star point in the middle is called Tianyuan. The chess pieces are divided into black and white. Chinese rules require 180 pieces on each side in the game.

(Picture from the Internet)

In ancient China, Go was called Yi, Go, and Shoutan. Playing Go was also called Duiyi, Boyi, and Yiqi. Legend has it that Yao invented Go to educate Danzhu and cultivate his temperament. The earliest reliable record of Go is found in Zuo Zhuan during the Spring and Autumn Period. During the Three Kingdoms Period, a nine-rank system for evaluating Go players appeared. In the Tang Dynasty, the position of Qi Daizhao appeared, whose main responsibility was to recruit Go masters to play Go with the emperor. Go gradually became a compulsory subject for the intellectual class to cultivate their character and was one of the "Four Arts of Literati".

(The picture of "Ladies Playing Chess" comes from the Internet)

Go is called 盲碁 (いご) in Japanese. The Sui Dynasty: Dongyi Zhuan: Wakoku records that Japan "likes playing chess, jiu, and chupu". The earliest existing Japanese history book, Kojiki, also has many place names and personal names with the word "碁", indicating that Go was accepted by the Japanese in the 7th century. In the Nara period (710-794 AD), Go was popular in the Japanese court. Literary works such as The Tale of Genji and The Pillow Book also describe Go. At the end of the Warring States period, Go was popular among the samurai class as a simulation of war. The powerful minister Toyotomi Hideyoshi established a Go-sho. In the Tokugawa shogunate, "Go in the Castle" appeared, where players played in front of the emperor or the shogun. After that, Go families such as Honinbo appeared, and a professional Go system was gradually established, which had a profound impact on the formation of the modern Go ranking system. In 1984, the first China-Japan Go competition was held, which greatly promoted the popularization of Go in China.

(The Tale of Genji, Chapter 44, "Take River", painted scroll, color on paper, image from the Internet)

In addition to Japan, Goguryeo, Baekje and Silla on the Korean Peninsula also had friendly exchanges with China. In particular, Silla sent envoys to the Tang Dynasty many times. The New Book of Tang Dynasty: Biography of the Eastern Barbarians records the situation of the Tang Dynasty Go master Yang Jiying playing against a Silla player, indicating that Silla's Go had reached a certain level at that time.

In the early 13th century, the ruler of the Yuan Dynasty sent Xu Mingshan to Annan (now Vietnam). He saw the local nobles playing chess in Annan and wrote a poem "Watching chess in Annan on a spring night and giving it to the prince": "The moon is bright in the green courtyard, and the person is in the pot. The body is under the red candle, and the mind is wandering in the blue sky." This shows that Go was already quite popular in Vietnam at that time. "The world in the pot, the red candle reflects the chess" reflects the elegant taste of Go at that time.

In the early Ming Dynasty, Zheng He made seven voyages to the West, leaving behind many precious texts recording local customs and practices, such as Ma Guan's "Yingya Shenglan", Fei Xin's "Xingcha Shenglan", Gong Zhen's "Xiyang Fanguo Zhi", etc. "Yingya Shenglan" records that "Srivihara... people like to play Go." Srivijaya is now part of Indonesia. This shows that Go was already popular in Southeast Asian countries before the Ming Dynasty at the latest.

Go spread from Asia to the world in the late 16th century. In his travel diary, Fernán Mendes Pinto, Portuguese navigator Mendes Pinto recorded that in the 16th century, Portuguese sailors learned Go in Japan and brought it back to their country. This shows that Go was introduced to Europe in the 16th century. Since then, Go has gradually spread to America and Oceania across the ocean and has been promoted in European and American countries.

Go originated in China and spread to the world through the Maritime Silk Road. The Maritime Silk Road witnessed the history of economic and cultural exchanges between China and other parts of the world, and promoted the integration and development of Chinese traditional culture and world culture.