This week’s reading about weiqi and Go did a far better job at introducing me to weiqi and more importantly its importance in East Asian countries. I especially liked the rather short segment from p. 42-47 that discussed weiqi as imagery for war and the Wuxia narration that was mentioned. I found it amazing how weiqi was being used in the painting of the warrior that was getting the poison arrow removed. Since he was painted playing weiqi while the arrow was removed it really shows how much esteem Chinese have for the game and the patience and concentration the game requires.

Over the years, however, weiqi became much more than just a popular game, now it is a symbol of national identity and, for the best country, it is a symbol of national pride. I had learned of East Asia’s “competitive spirit” between Korea, Japan and China before thanks to some Japanese neighbors growing up, but I had no idea how deep rooted this was for China or how important it was for China that they surpassed Japan in weiqi.

I also think it is a little sad that weiqi has come to be a symbol for many of the boy’s transition into adulthood. In the beginning of the book there was a story of some ones parents being more excited about their child getting a higher rank in weiqi than their acceptance into one of China’s premier universities and it seems that a little too much emphasis seems to be placed on China’s youth to get good at a game when there are probably other things that they could focus on and get more out of life if they focused on those other things. Weiqi has become so ingrained into the lives of people and it plays such an important role, however, that some of the weiqi schools are run like businesses with separate divisions for students to enroll in and differing rates if they sign up for more classes. I feel like the modern direction of weiqi is starting to get away from its Confucian style of the game that seemed to just help prepare students to be more aggressive and take opportunities that present themselves while keeping a level head. Now weiqi is surrounded more with competition and being the best and while you need a level head to be good at weiqi and it is polite to not boast in your victory and other previously important notions of the game still exist they aren’t as important.