1 00:00:05,980 --> 00:00:11,980 Commonly known as Chinese Chess or Elephant Chess is a strategy board game for two players. 2 00:00:11,980 --> 00:00:19,120 It is the most popular board game in China and Shang-Chi is in the family of games as 3 00:00:19,120 --> 00:00:25,660 Shogi, Yankee, Western Chess, Chaturanga and Indian Chess. 4 00:00:25,660 --> 00:00:32,740 Besides China's and areas with significant ethnic Chinese communities, this game is also 5 00:00:32,740 --> 00:00:40,979 a popular pastime in Vietnam, where it is known as Coturong, literally General's Chess. 6 00:00:40,979 --> 00:00:46,299 Doing the research for this game was particularly easy due to the fact that there's plenty 7 00:00:46,299 --> 00:00:55,520 of information online making it an easy research. 8 00:00:55,520 --> 00:00:59,299 Main Rules The pieces start in the position shown in 9 00:00:59,299 --> 00:01:01,159 the diagram above. 10 00:01:01,159 --> 00:01:07,239 player moves first has varied throughout history and from one part of China to another. Different 11 00:01:07,239 --> 00:01:13,879 shanky books advise either that the black or red side moves first. Some books refer to the 12 00:01:13,879 --> 00:01:20,359 two sides as north and south, which direction corresponds to which color also varies from source 13 00:01:20,359 --> 00:01:28,120 to source. Generally, red moves first in most modern tournaments. Each player in turn moves one 14 00:01:28,120 --> 00:01:34,040 piece from the point it occupies to another point. Pieces are generally not permitted to move through 15 00:01:34,040 --> 00:01:40,200 points occupied by other pieces, the exception being the cannon's capturing move. Each player 16 00:01:40,200 --> 00:01:46,599 in turn moves one piece from the point it occupies to another point. Pieces are generally not 17 00:01:46,599 --> 00:01:54,200 permitted to move through points occupied by other pieces, the exception being the cannon's capturing 18 00:01:54,200 --> 00:02:02,760 move. A piece can be moved onto a point occupied by an enemy piece, in which the case the enemy 19 00:02:02,760 --> 00:02:09,240 piece is captured and removed from the board. A player cannot capture one of their own pieces, 20 00:02:09,879 --> 00:02:16,759 and the pieces are never promoted, converted into other pieces. Although the soldier gains 21 00:02:16,759 --> 00:02:22,599 the ability to move sideways after it crosses the river. And now we go on with the pieces. 22 00:02:22,599 --> 00:02:33,639 pieces each player controls an army of 16 pieces the armies are usually colored red and black and 23 00:02:33,639 --> 00:02:43,120 pieces are flat circular discs labeled or engraved with a Chinese character identifying the type the 24 00:02:43,120 --> 00:02:52,120 piece type and in color indicating which player has ownership on mainland China most sets still 25 00:02:52,120 --> 00:02:57,020 used traditional Chinese characters. Modern pieces are usually plastic, though some sets 26 00:02:57,020 --> 00:03:02,460 are wooden, and more expensive sets may use jade. In more ancient times, many sets were 27 00:03:02,460 --> 00:03:08,180 simple and painted wood carvings, thus, to distinguish between pieces of the two sides. 28 00:03:08,180 --> 00:03:12,379 Most corresponding pieces used characters that were similar but varied slightly. This 29 00:03:12,379 --> 00:03:16,639 practice may have originated in situations where there was only one material available 30 00:03:16,639 --> 00:03:45,330 make the pieces from, and no coloring material available to extinguish the opposing armies.