Wu, Qingyuan
(The game Wei Qi is better known as Japanese translation “Go” in English world. But I think Siege should explain the game better. I’m going to call it Siege.)
Recently I have been reading Wu Qingyuan’s autobiography on and off – “on and off” because his writing, to be frank, is rather pedestrian — but his life story and how he conducted himself are quite worthy of one’s admiration.
Born in 1914 in Fujian Province, Wu Qingyuan (吴清源, also known as Go Seigen) moved to Beijing as a child. Though among earlier generations of his family were senior government officials and wealthy merchants, by his father’s generation, the family’s circumstances were no longer what they were. His father died early in his prime, leaving him a set of Siege. Wu Qingyuan made his name in Siege circles in his youth, earning a reputation as a child prodigy. Duan Qirui, a famous warlord in those days, became his sponsor, allowing him to earn a big enough income to support his family. He became the No. 1 Siege player in Beijing when he was only 13. His talents drew the attention of the Siege circles in Japan. In 1928, he went to Japan and became a student of Segoe Kensaku (濑越宪作). In 1934, with 木谷实 and 安永, he wrote a book named “The Revolution in Siege: A New Theory of Positions.” The book challenged many old ideas about the game and is considered to be one of the most important works in the history of Siege. Aside from his immense contributions to the theory of the game, Wu Qingyuan also made his reputation with his success in almost 100 rounds of the “Competitions in Ten-Game Match (十番棋)”. A ten-game match is a contest between two master Siege players. Whoever wins four games more than the opponent wins the match. Losing a ten-game match was considered evidence that the losing player’s skills were not comparable to that of the winner, leading to a fall in ranking for the loser. However, the shame of being downgraded was often so unbearable for a master player that the event would effectively mark the end of his professional Siege career. Today’s competition rules are different. A player’s ranking can only rise and not fall. This difference further highlights the cruel and terrifying nature of the ten-game match. Playing ten-game matches, Wu Qingyuan defeated all of Japanese Siege masters one by one. The only round he did not finish was a contest with the elder player Karigane Junichi (雁金准一) because the match was abandoned after Wu had won four games and lost one.
In contrast to his remarkable achievement in Siege, Wu Qingyuan’s life was full of drifting and bitterness. During the war, Siege players struggled in their professional life. Wu’s identity as a Chinese made his life in Japan even harder. He suffered from discrimination. Following his success in ten-game matches, he received black mails, vicious comments like “Chinese is a cruel nation ” in newspapers, and many other abuses of the kind. But painting this great Siege player as a national hero would not necessarily be proper. In his autobiography, he appears more as a naive man, an “idiot savant” of the game, who knew little about life in the outside world.
Currently, Tian Zhuangzhuang (the director of “The Blue Kite” and “Delamu”) is planning a film based on the life of Wu Qingyuan entitled “The Saint of Siege” Many fans of the game eagerly await the film’s arrival.
