CHINA.
THE GAME OF WEI-CHI.--At a meeting in Shanghai of the Chinese Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, M. Volpicelli read a paper on "The Game of Wei-Chi," the greatest game of the Chinese, especially with the literary class and ranked by them superior to chess. Like chess, this game is of a general military and mathematical character, but is on a much more extensive scale, the board containing 361 places and employing nearly 200 men on a side. All of the men, however, have the same value and powers.
The object is to command as many places on the board as possible--this may be done by enclosing empty spaces or by surrounding the enemy's men. Very close calculation is always essential in order that a loss in one region may be met by gains in another, thus employing skillful strategy when the contestants are evenly matched. The game has come down from great antiquity, being first mentioned in Chinese writings about B.C. 625. It was in all probability introduced by the Babylonian astronomers who were at that time the instructors of all the East.--Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1892, p. 421.