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Chinese Chess or Xiangqi (which would be the preferred name) has been around for hundreds of years. The Chinese seem to possess of a great many ancient scriptures on the topic. --- HJR Murray. Before the Ming Dynasty, books about Xiangqi had already existed. Unfortunately, only a small fraction is still extant today. Ancient Xiangqi Classics is a collection of the ancient Xiangqi scriptures and manuals, that has been translated and presented in English. The main aim is to introduce Xiangqi to the Westerner, sharing and passing on the wisdom of the ancient Chinese. To this very day, the Elegant Pastime Manual is still one of the must-read classics in Xiangqi. It was edited and published in 1570AD by Xu Zhi. It was a selection of puzzles from an earlier book, Dreams of Divine Positions, which only a tiny fraction still exists. There are 550 Xiangqi puzzles in the ancient manual, all demonstrating brilliant kills, and tactical combinations. There were also some simple advice and pointers to play the game. The Elegant Pastime Manual is also very rich regarding Chinese culture. The title of each endgame composition is a short verse in Chinese. Each title name would have various implications, with references to numerous poems, stories, and historical incidents or other bits of Chinese culture. However, the titles have seldom been researched, even in Chinese publications of the book. The author has taken much effort to research the titles to help understand the implications of each position. Simple background knowledge to the titles would further assist in the appreciation of each puzzle. Immerse in this elegant pastime, enjoy the Elegant Pastime Manual!

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Jim Png was born in Malaysia, but he grew up in Singapore and later went to Taiwan where he finished his medical education and training to become an orthopedic surgeon. His love affair with Xiangqi has lasted for over three decades now. During his school years in Singapore, Jim had been the president of his chess club and also the captain of his Xiangqi team, which had won the Raffles Cup in 1991 and was placed third place in 1993 in the same event. Medicine, the brutal training regiment of an orthopedic surgeon, family, and kids forced him to stop playing competitive Xiangqi. Instead, Jim has found another way of enjoying Xiangqi, by sharing his love of Xiangqi with the non-Chinese speaking world. He does this with www.xqinenglish.com, a website that he launched in 2011. Since then, Jim has singlehandedly uploaded thousands of puzzles, and hundreds of pages onto his website. The website has over 2400 pages at last count. In 2016, he started uploading videos onto Youtube where there are hundreds of videos now. Feeling that he could do more, Jim has embarked on other ambitious projects. Some of the fruit of his labors include the first ever Lexicon of Xiangqi Terms in English, which he hopes to allow non-Chinese speaking people to communicate Xiangqi in their native tongues. He has also translated several ancient manuals, and meticulously researched Chinese history in his translations. He hopes to be able to translate as many ancient manuals as he can. His ultimate goal is to share with the world the beauty of Xiangqi, a way of life. Jim is still working hard at promoting Xiangqi every day, often putting in more hours into it than his day job. Jim Png is happily married and has two children.

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