Chinese chess, or Xianggi as called outside the west, became popular in China long     1     China was even a concept.

The game was already being played in the courts     2     early as the Warring States Period. The     3    (one) reference to gameplay comes from the Tang Dynasty story of Cen Shun, Golden Elephant King. In the story, Cen dreams he is visited by a messenger     4    (say) that his kingdom will soon go to war with another one. Cen’s room turns into the gate of a castle     5    (prepare) for a great battle. An advisor comes to him with a     6    (suggest) : “The flying horse goes diagonally(斜线的) and stops at three, the general moves all over the field, the carriage advances straight into the enemy’s area, and soldiers should not move sideways. ” The king follows it and the war     7    (win) in a day. Cen rethinks about the war.     8    (late), Cen digs up a board game, Xiangqi, which uses     9     same strategy(策略). Visitors to China can catch sight of its play in public places like     10    (park), with aunties and uncles absorbed in plans of attack.