Ancient Chinese Rules And Philosophy/ Discussion

I think this a very interesting topic. I have been so free to add a few spelling corrections, and I also added some hints for better comprehension. The latter are marked with (-> hint for better comprehension <-). I leave it to Zhang Hu to WikiMasterEdit this topic.

--DieterVerhofstadt

Mmm. A couple of weeks later, Zhang Hu still hasn't. I removed the marks, but leave the content master editing to others. Remove my remarks when doing so¨
--Dieter

All lovers of go lore should go to http://www.figg.org/areafile/qjssp.pdf - it is Paolo Zanon's (English) translation of the classic work Qijing Shisanpian. It may not improve your playing drastically, but it is exciting and entertaining reading. It is divided into thirteen chapters, some of which elaborate on playing technique, and some of which are more philosophical. How the goban corresponds to the heavens and the calendar; one chapter lists several categories of stupidity and wisdom. Good fun.
--Simen

Robert Pauli: I'm a bit puzzled. Is Zhang Hu talking about no-pass go, or rather about stone scoring, as I hope. However, the shared last dame fits to neither.

Bill: Hey, guys! Zhang Hu presented his ideas about ancient (pre-Ming) Chinese rules in some detail. If we are going to have an in depth discussion, let's do it here, and leave the original page alone, so people can see what his ideas were. They are not the same as modern Chinese rules, nor Stone Counting. He is talking about earlier rules, before the idea of counting stones caught on it China.

• caraoke?* - I've recently come across at least 2 independant sources stating that quotes from ancient Chinese texts regarding Go (Weiqi) clearly mentioned the counting was done the same way as Japanese rule - ie. counting territory but not the stones on the board. http://www.pandanet.co.jp/English/essay/goancientchina.html (last few paragraphs)

I remember having read another essay with even more evidence regarding the counting style - with many excerpts from the original famous Go related texts from different era. I'll try to find it.

Herman Hiddema: You probably mean article 37 from New In Go (highly recommended, excellent articles)

What I'm trying to say is, the game of Weiqi (go) from ancient time has been about territory. Which, when you think about it, it makes sense. If the Go board was modelled after heaven and earth and the inhabitants - it would make sense for land to be the most important aspect instead of its border. After all, people in ancient China has been fighting each other for dominance over the land for thousands of years.

-- Archaic, kgs: I heard from someone that Go had to do with "Qi". Now, this could simply mean it had to do with the life-force found in QiGong?, or it could be an indirect hint at the Chinese term "Qi"; literally "breaths" or "liberties". Could this have anything to do with the ancient scoring rules of Go having something to do with liberties? It's a good addition to the philosophy segment anyway.