What the dying of Go grasp Nie Weiping means | EUROtoday

It was a number of days in November 1985 that secured Go participant Nie Weiping a everlasting place within the grand narrative of China’s resurgence. At that point, he utterly surprisingly defeated the three greatest Japanese gamers in a row within the closing of a Chinese-Japanese group competitors – and thus marked the top of Japan’s centuries-long dominance on this sport, which initially originated in China 2,500 years in the past, and China’s return to its former superiority on this space too.

When Nie Weiping died in Beijing final Wednesday on the age of 73, the Chinese media celebrated as of late as an epochal second, and the journal Caixin recalled a saying by Marshal Chen Yi, the civil warfare veteran and later vice premier of the People’s Republic of China: “When the nation rises, the game of Go also flourishes. When the nation is in decline, the game of Go also withers away.”

The undeniable fact that this sport is given such geopolitical significance is defined by its shut connection to the nation’s cultural historical past. Weiqi, because the “surrounding game” known as within the transliteration of the Chinese characters, was initially not fashionable in Confucian circles, however was later included within the canon of the “Four Arts” which are important for a cultured particular person (alongside Chinese calligraphy, Chinese ink portray and enjoying the Qin, the Chinese zither). In addition, it was thought of the epitome of strategic pondering, the complexity of which exceeds that of the sport of chess many instances over: on an initially empty board measuring nineteen by nineteen crossing factors, every of the 2 gamers tries to encircle bigger areas with their very own items than the opponent. As commander-in-chief of the People’s Liberation Army in the course of the civil warfare, Chen Yi is alleged to have all the time carried a go board with him.

When thirteen-year-old Nie Weiping beat him in 1964, Chen made clear to him the patriotic significance of the matter: “Weiqi is a Chinese game, but it has been hijacked by the Japanese. China now has nuclear weapons, but no Weiqi player of the highest rank, that is, 9 dan. If you become a master, you will meet Mao Tse-tung.” That motivated him so much on the time, Nie later wrote in his autobiography.

But first the Cultural Revolution intervened, during which Go was banned as an “ancient cultural practice” and Nie was despatched to the countryside like hundreds of thousands of different college students. It was solely after 1973 that he was capable of resume his Weiqi research, which truly helped him obtain ninth dan rank in 1982. The drama of the historic competitors with Japan was elevated in 1985 by the truth that Nie needed to be briefly provided with oxygen bottles in the course of the video games as a consequence of a congenital coronary heart defect, however this didn’t cease him from in any other case smoking closely. He was nonetheless unfamiliar with the strict bodily health regime that immediately’s skilled gamers observe.

After the decisive sport, which lasted seven hours, the crowds celebrated the victory in Tiananmen Square, particularly for the reason that triumph coincided with the World Cup of the Chinese girls’s volleyball group. In 1988, the sports activities affiliation awarded Nie the title of Go sage, “Qi Sheng” (after which his bridge companion Deng Xiaoping is alleged to have informed him that it was not straightforward to reside as a sage; it was higher to be an odd particular person).

As luck would have it, Nie was additionally a classmate of Xi Jinping. Hong Kong newspaper The Standard claims Xi was required to be taught Go early in his profession to hone his strategic pondering, and Nie gave him classes. After his energetic skilled days, Nie Weiping grew to become the namesake and head of a Go academy and later he grew to become a sharp-tongued Go commentator on tv. The victory over Japan led to a normal enthusiasm for Go within the nation, the sport was systematically promoted, and after South Korea was the chief for years, skilled gamers from the People’s Republic now dominate the world rankings, even when the South Korean Shin Jinseo has been on the prime since 2019. Since 2016, nonetheless, even the very best gamers from all nations have needed to admit defeat to self-learning synthetic intelligence. What this implies for geopolitics just isn’t but clear.