Comments/Ratings for a Single Item

I have a set in which only Rooks, Knights, and Cannons are the same for the
two sides; however, I believe that I bought this xiang qi set in the late
1960s, and that the date of purchase predates the great simplification in
which Mao's government reduced the number of ideograms in everyday use
from 50,000 to 5000.

Perhaps the great simplification changed the look of Xiang Qi?

The Cannons are the most interesting and difficult to use pieces in
Xiangqi, and add much to the tactical potential of the game. The earliest
versions of Xiangqi did not have the Cannons (gunpower was not invented
back then), which made them much less tactically interesting than modern
Xiangqi. Without the Cannons, one's attacking potential is a lot
smaller.
Cannons improved Xiangqi in a similar way to how the increased powers of
the Queen improved Chess. Cannons were added to Chinese Chess during the
Song Dynasty (960 - 1279 AD) when gunpower based weapons were first used.


The Cannon is a great Chinese invention (both on and off the Xiangqi
board!). The Cannon as a chess piece is unique to Chinese Chess and
variants derived from its lineage. (Such as Korean chess) If the primary
European contribution to chess games is the invention of the powerful
Queen, and the Japanese contribution is the invention of rules which
allow
one to use captured pieces as his/her own, then the Cannon, I believe, is
the major Chinese contribution to the chess family of games. This piece
combines the long-range mobility of line pieces and the penetrating power
of leapers. It can strike at the opponent's positions from a distance
like a Rook and penetrate through defensive lines to attack pieces behind
them like a Knight. Rooks have long-range attack ability but can be
obstructed easily with well defended pieces in their line of sight.
Knights can 'see through' the opponent's defenses but can only attack
from close range, where itself is often vulnerable. The Cannon combines
the advantages of both line pieces and leapers in its attack. 

Tactically speaking, the interesting thing about the Cannon is that it is
the only chess piece that can pin TWO pieces at the same time. This also
means discovered attacks involving the Cannons can be more unpredictable.
Two pieces in front of the Cannon have the potential to move off for the
Cannon to strike at the opponent (With other chess pieces, only one piece
would have this potential). When the Cannons double up to form a battery,
their advantage over the Rooks is that they can directly strike two
positions at once, with the Cannon at the rear using its companion in
front as its screen, where the doubled Rooks can only attack one point.

random: please submit any descriptions of game variations to the editors
using the 'contact form' at the top of the page. 

http://www.chessvariants.com/xiangqi.html

Thanks!

Tony, I think you misunderstood what random was asking about. He's not
offering a new variant; he is asking if we have the rules for Korean
Chess. We do have them here:

http://www.chessvariants.com/oriental.dir/koreanchess.html

can i copy the texts here to my homepage?
i will claim the texts are copied from 'www.chessvariants.com' in my HP
ng goi ar.....