圍棋 Weiqi (the game of go)

Weiqi is a mind sport that originated from China. It has been popularizing from 2,500 years ago. Weiqi has been spread to the Korean Peninsula and Japan in Han Dynasty and Tang Dynasty individually, and gradually spread to across the world. It fully embodies the oriental way of thinking and ideological system, and is one of the major contributions China has made to the world civilisation. Weiqi is making its Asian Games debut in 16th Asian Games, Guangzhou, in 2010.

The black and white stones are displayed on a Weiqi board with 361 crosses made of 19 vertical lines and 19 horizontal lines. It is played as the follow rules:

1. Weiqi is played by taking turns to put black and white stones on the cross of the board. One can only go one stone each time.

2. The cross made by the vertical and horizontal stone line is the "Qi" of the stone. If the "Qi" of one stone or connected stones is completely occupied by the other player, it is called "dead stone", and has to be lift up from the board.

3. Finally who wins more area on the board wins the game.

4. The act of lifting a stone for each other is called "Jie" (rob). In order to avoid non-stop game with repeated lifting, one must not lift immediately in return after being lifted.

圍棋是中華文明的重要組成部分，早在春秋時期就廣為流傳。大約距今2000年的漢代，圍棋可能已傳播到朝鮮半島；唐代圍棋流傳到日本，并逐步發展為現今中日韓三足鼎立的局面。目前圍棋除了在中、日、韓、朝鮮等東亞地區發展外，在東南亞、西亞等地區也迅速發展，圍棋以其自身的魅力贏得了人們的喜愛。2010年廣州亞運會圍棋將首次成為正式比賽項目。

圍棋棋盤長寬各有19條線，共有361個點，在棋盤上標有九個小圓點，稱作“星”。中央的星又稱“天元”。正式比賽黑白棋子各180子。對局雙方各執一色棋子，黑先白后，輪流下子。終局后，一方棋子所占之點及所圍之空點為該方所得之點，黑白子之間的空點雙方各得其半。得點多的一方為勝。