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Go for it in new go museum
By Xu Wenwen |
November 9, 2011, Wednesday
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Print Edition
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A museum of go, the ancient Chinese board game known as weiqi, opens in Tianyuan Tower in Hangzhou. Xu Wenwen and Shi Xiaohan check out the exhibits.
Theme hotels are increasing in China but not many contain museums. One is the just-opened China Go Museum in a hotel in Hangzhou.
Go, or weiqi, originated in China more than 2,000 years ago and is popular in China, Japan and South Korea. It's a demanding game of complex strategy, though the rules are relatively simple.
It's played by two people who alternately place black and white stones on the vacant intersections of a grid of 19x19 lines; beginners use smaller boards. The object is to use the stones to surround a larger portion of the board than the opponent. At the end of a game, the controlled territories are counted, along with captured stones to determine points.
The China Go Museum opened at the beginning of the month in Tianyuan Tower, a hotel established with a go theme in 2007 and containing many items related to go.
One building contains offices of the Hangzhou Go Academy, as well as a space for playing. Hundreds of games have been held there. The tower includes a hotel as well as a go school for children.
Go culture and black and white stones can been seen throughout the tower. Near the elevator are carvings of ancient Chinese playing go. In the cafe there's a small fountain based on a go board. At the reception desk, there are black and white clock that look like large go stones.
"It's as though a small museum is contained in a large one," says Zhang Peng, vice director of Hangzhou Go Academy, which owns the tower and runs it jointly with a hotel management company.
The China Go Museum on the first floor of Tianyuan Tower covers more than 1,000 square meters, and exhibits more than 100 items, including go boards, go stones, books, desks and chairs for playing.
They have been collected by the academy and donated by go experts and enthusiasts.
The museum showcases "four treasures," including a set of 285 small, porcelain go stones made in Song Dynasty (960-1279). Each is the size of a thumb nail, smaller than those used today.
The stones were purchased by a Chinese go enthusiast at an auction in England and sold them to the museum. The stones were authenticated by the Zhejiang Antiquities Bureau and determined to have been made in the famous Ding kilns, one of five royal porcelain producers during Song Dynasty.
The other three "treasures" are a bronze mirror from Tang Dynasty (618-907) decorated with a scene of hermits playing go; a Tang brick with a carved picture of women playing go, and a stone go board made in Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).
The museum offers activities and recreation. Visitors can play computer games of go, Chinese chess (xiangqi) and Western chess. Several touch-screen computers feature famous games between go masters.
The history of the game is projected in a digital book, also shaped like a book, in which visitors can turn pages and read more.
The museum contains a book collection, including a series of go books dating back to Qing Dynasty. Visitors can also read current periodicals about go in the tower's cafe. The area is expected to be enlarged as a public library about go culture.
In the restaurant, bowls are shaped like go stone containers, various go stone containers decorate corridors and rooms; all kinds of sculptures and pictures of go are displayed.
"We will rotate exhibits every year and expand our collection," says Zhang. "We want to make the museum a place worth visiting for go fans all the time."
China Go Museum
Admission: Free
Address: 2 Qianchao Rd
Tel:0571-2893-1111
Website: www.hzweiqi.com
Theme hotels are increasing in China but not many contain museums. One is the just-opened China Go Museum in a hotel in Hangzhou.
Go, or weiqi, originated in China more than 2,000 years ago and is popular in China, Japan and South Korea. It's a demanding game of complex strategy, though the rules are relatively simple.
It's played by two people who alternately place black and white stones on the vacant intersections of a grid of 19x19 lines; beginners use smaller boards. The object is to use the stones to surround a larger portion of the board than the opponent. At the end of a game, the controlled territories are counted, along with captured stones to determine points.
The China Go Museum opened at the beginning of the month in Tianyuan Tower, a hotel established with a go theme in 2007 and containing many items related to go.
One building contains offices of the Hangzhou Go Academy, as well as a space for playing. Hundreds of games have been held there. The tower includes a hotel as well as a go school for children.
Go culture and black and white stones can been seen throughout the tower. Near the elevator are carvings of ancient Chinese playing go. In the cafe there's a small fountain based on a go board. At the reception desk, there are black and white clock that look like large go stones.
"It's as though a small museum is contained in a large one," says Zhang Peng, vice director of Hangzhou Go Academy, which owns the tower and runs it jointly with a hotel management company.
The China Go Museum on the first floor of Tianyuan Tower covers more than 1,000 square meters, and exhibits more than 100 items, including go boards, go stones, books, desks and chairs for playing.
They have been collected by the academy and donated by go experts and enthusiasts.
The museum showcases "four treasures," including a set of 285 small, porcelain go stones made in Song Dynasty (960-1279). Each is the size of a thumb nail, smaller than those used today.
The stones were purchased by a Chinese go enthusiast at an auction in England and sold them to the museum. The stones were authenticated by the Zhejiang Antiquities Bureau and determined to have been made in the famous Ding kilns, one of five royal porcelain producers during Song Dynasty.
The other three "treasures" are a bronze mirror from Tang Dynasty (618-907) decorated with a scene of hermits playing go; a Tang brick with a carved picture of women playing go, and a stone go board made in Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).
The museum offers activities and recreation. Visitors can play computer games of go, Chinese chess (xiangqi) and Western chess. Several touch-screen computers feature famous games between go masters.
The history of the game is projected in a digital book, also shaped like a book, in which visitors can turn pages and read more.
The museum contains a book collection, including a series of go books dating back to Qing Dynasty. Visitors can also read current periodicals about go in the tower's cafe. The area is expected to be enlarged as a public library about go culture.
In the restaurant, bowls are shaped like go stone containers, various go stone containers decorate corridors and rooms; all kinds of sculptures and pictures of go are displayed.
"We will rotate exhibits every year and expand our collection," says Zhang. "We want to make the museum a place worth visiting for go fans all the time."
China Go Museum
Admission: Free
Address: 2 Qianchao Rd
Tel:0571-2893-1111
Website: www.hzweiqi.com
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