Chess as a Cultural Art Form

Have you ever played chess? Have you ever found a profound connection between you and the chess pieces as you find a strategy that can outsmart your opponent? More than a game of strategy, chess has more inclination as a cultural art form that has shaped the lives of our ancestors.

Chess is an important part of Eastern cultural life. It is not only different from ordinary games of relieving boredom, but also affects and refines people’s moral concepts, codes of conduct, aesthetic tastes and ways of thinking. Qin, chess, calligraphy, and painting are collectively referred to as China’s four traditional art forms, which have become a cultural form with rich connotations. The tranquility, heroism, elegance, wit and military, philosophy, poetry, and art in “Yi” come together. Between black and white, the enlightenment and connotation brought by the art of chess inside and outside the Chuhe and Han circles have been infinitely expanded, and the world outside the chessboard has been merged into one, which has become one of the greatest characteristics of Chinese chess culture. The square inch chessboard also has the function of tempering people’s will, tempering people’s sentiment, and invigorating the national spirit. Go and chess are the crystallization of the wisdom and will of the Chinese nation, and are the excellent traditional cultural heritage of the Chinese nation. They include the five thousand years of Chinese history and heavy cultural deposits.

Next time you hold the chess piece, allow yourself to be transported into the rich Chinese culture and savor every moment of the game.

-By Ou Saing