Does xiangqi have a fifty-move rule?
These answers restate the rules implemented by our open-source engine, which follows the WXF laws and is regression-tested against the official 110-diagram repetition casebook. Where an answer refers to a specific position, that position lives on the linked reference page, where the build verifies it against the engine before publishing.
Direct answer
It has a sixty-move rule, not fifty. Sixty moves without a capture by either side is a draw. The principle is the same as chess's fifty-move rule — stop games that are going nowhere — but the number differs, and xiangqi has no equivalent of chess's extended exceptions for specific endgames.
Why the count is generous
Because it does not need to be tight. Xiangqi's basic mates are short: the general is confined to nine points, so covering its escape squares takes two or three accurate moves rather than a long manoeuvre. Sixty is ample for anything you actually need to do.
Where it bites
Only on technique. If you know the mate, you will never see the sixty-move rule; if you do not and you give checks at random, you will. It is one more argument for learning the basic checkmates before anything else.
Related questions
Is there a seventy-five-move automatic draw?
No — xiangqi has no equivalent of that chess provision. The sixty-move rule is the whole of it.
Does a check reset the count?
No. Only a capture does.
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