覺到應該有一本中國人寫的英文圍棋普及讀物。中國人要向外國人介紹圍棋是中國的，總是需要這樣的書吧。他年過八旬，完全以一己之力堅定信念完成了這個心愿：自費出版《HOW TO PLAY GO——怎樣下圍棋》。老人說他願意拋磚引
玉，不管這本書內容是否精到，但是總算有人開始做這件事了。
Introduction
1.1 Brief history
Go is an ancient game in China. It is probably the oldest of all known games. When was Go invented? There are many wonderful legends about it. The most famous one is that Emperor Yao invented Go (about 2300 B.C.) to strengthen the mental faculties of his son, who was a stupid person. Another saying is that his successor Emperor Shun (2255-2206 B.C.) was the originator of the game for the same purpose. During the Southern and Northern Dynasty (420-589 A.D.) Weichi was introduced aboard to Japan and Korea. In the Encyclopaedia Britannica, it is written that Go originated either in India or in China as early as 2356 B.C., according to some sources, and was brought to Japan about AD500; and it is similar in the Encyclopaedia Americana that Go originated in China about 2300 B.C. and was taken up in Japan about 735 A.D. The earliest reliable record of the first appearance of Chinese character ‘Yi’ (it is the same as Go in ancient time) was in a story about 548 B.C. in the ancient historical work “Zuo Zhuan”, which is a history of the state of Lu in the Spring and Autumn Period (770-426 B.C.).It indicated that Go was already known in China at that time.
The first essay in regard to the essence and effect of Go was “Yi Zhi” (The Essence of Go), written by Ban Gu (32-92 A.D.) in the Han Dynasty. This fact reflected that the game of Go then spread widely and had been researched deeply. About a hundred years ago a script of “Go Jin” (Go Classic) came out from the caves of Dunhuang, in the Gansu Province. It lay in the British Museum for a long time until Chinese scholars discovered it in sixties last century. It is a treatise on the theory of the game of Go written in the Northern Zhou Period (557- 581 A.D.).
Now it is regarded as the earliest work on the game of Go.
1.2 How is Go called in China?
“Go” is the pronunciation of an ancient Chinese character, which is rarely used now, but it is used in Japan updated. There is another character, pronounced as ‘Yi’ with the same meaning as ‘Go’. Ii was used in the past time frequently; and it appears in literal works sometimes now, but does not used in speaking. The formal name of Go in China today is pronounced as “weichi”, spelled as Weiqi in Chinese Pinyin (alphabet). There are many other names of Weichi. Each of them has a beautiful explanation or a mysterious tale, for example, “Black – White” is called as the colours of the stones; “Hand talking” is due to playing Go only with hand, not mouth; “Decomposed axe-handle’, it is from an old tale. In the Jin Dynasty (265-420) there was a woodcutter, called Wang-zhi. One day he went into the Shishi Mountain to gather firewood. There he met two boys singing and playing Go happily. He sat on the axe-handle watching them playing Go. They gave him a fruit as jujube (date). He ate it and did not feel hungry. Before the game came to the end, one boy pointed his axe-handle and cried to him, “Your handle was decomposed.” After Wang-zhi returned to his native village, he had been hundred years old, and there was no person whom he knew when he left. This tale tells you that Go is so interesting that the woodcutter even forgot the time. Playing Go is so interesting and attractive, does it interfere with learning and work?
1.3 Advantage of playing Go
Playing Go is not only interesting, but also good for developing intelligence and training will. So, now Go is not only a term of simple entertainment and competition, but also as a term of character education in some schools in China. The effect of Go for training talents had brought the attention of the education field. Certainly, it should be under some limit to do anything, and properly to arrange it; otherwise it will interfere with learning and work. It is just the same for playing Go.
The equipment for playing Go
The equipment for playing Go is very simple. It consists of a Go board, and the black and white stones.
2.1. Board
Now the Go boards are made with wood, but some amateurs often use a piece of paper or plastic instead of wooden board for relaxation. The wooden board is stained yellow. The normal board is not exactly square. On the board, there are 19 thin, lacquered black vertical and horizontal lines parallel with each edge, making up 361 intersecting points, including the corners and the points along the edge of the field. The board may be imagined as 4 quadrants, which mean as four seasons, and except the central point the 360 intersecting points as 360 days (~365) in a year, then the games as years after years without end. In practice, for locating the position of stones conveniently the board is divided into 9 parts: 4 corners; the top (upper)-left corner, the top(upper)-right corner, the bottom(lower) -left corner, and bottom(lower)-right corner; 4 sides: top(upper)side, bottom(lower)side, left side and right side, and middle part (in the centre, as shown in Diagram 2.1.
Diagram 2.1
The horizontal and vertical lines are also called according to their positions, the edges (parameter lines ) are the first lines, the next lines toward the centre are the second lines, the third lines…..up to the tenth lines. The third lines are the lines of territory. The fourth lines are the lines of influence, as shown in Diagram 2.2.
On the board there are nine intersecting points, which are dotted. They are the intersecting points of the fourth lines, of the fourth and tenth lines and of the tenth lines. These points are called stars. The central one (the intersecting point of the tenth lines) is called Heaven Star or central star, as shown in Diagram 2.3.
Diagram 2.2 Diagram 2.3
It is possible to use the board with smaller odd numbers, such as 17 by 17, 15 by15, 13 by 13, 11 by 11 and 9 by 9 instead of 19 by 19 lines. The beginners can learn the basics on a 9 by 9 board, and a quick game can be played on a 13 by 13 board. Some illustrations in Go books may be shown on a pattern board of 17 by 17, 13 by 13, or 9 by 9.
The records of Go games usually are the pictures of the finished games, on which each stone is numbered as it was played in order. If a stone is taken and another stone is put on its place, an annotation is made over the diagram of the board with a reference to that intersection, stating that such a stone has been taken in some case.
But it is hard to locate the stone on the pictures when recording the game and to search for it all over the picture. There are many methods to overcome these difficulties in ancient and present works. The following method is a traditional one among them, that is, the lines at the head and bottom of the board are lettered from A to T, the letter of I being omitted, and at the sides of the board they are numbered up from 1 to 19, as shown in Diagram 2.4. The intersections are named as A18, S9 and so on. Thus it is always easy to locate any given stone.
Diagram 2.4
In the corners for easy locating the position of a stone in the opening or in a typical form there is another method to call the intersections as the numbers of intersecting lines, such as A---4-4, B---3-3, C---3- 4 or 4-3, D---4-5 or 5-4, E---3-5 or 5-3 (the intersections of two fourth lines, of the third lines, of the third and fourth lines, of the fourth and fifth lines and of the third and fifth lines), as shown in Diagram 2.5. The first number is that on the horizontal lines, and the second is on the vertical lines. It is the same for four corners.
Diagram 2.5
2.2 Stones
The Go stones are oblate and made of slate or glass, in black and white colours. The number of stones is preferably 180 for each colour.
