---
title: "Is the Cannon a Major Piece or a Minor Piece in Xiangqi? · Xiangqi Master"
description: "Xiangqi doesn't use the chess-style major and minor labels formally, but by strength and role the cannon sits between the two: clearly stronger than a horse yet consistently below a chariot."
url: https://xiangqimaster.com/blog/is-the-cannon-a-major-or-minor-piece
updated: 2026-09-23
source: Xiangqi Master (https://xiangqimaster.com)
license: CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
---

# Is the cannon considered a major piece like the chariot, or grouped with the minor pieces?

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
>
> **Somewhere in between, and xiangqi doesn't formally use those labels at all.** The chess-derived major and minor piece split is not part of standard xiangqi terminology. If you apply the idea loosely by strength, the cannon sits between the two chess categories: it is consistently valued above a horse but below a chariot, and its value swings more with the position than either does.

## Why the labels don't map cleanly

Chess divides pieces largely by raw mobility on an empty board. Xiangqi's cannon breaks that model outright, since its capturing power depends entirely on screens rather than open lines, so a strength-based label that fits in one position can fit poorly in another just a few moves later.

## What players actually say instead

Xiangqi commentary usually just talks about specific piece types and their point values, chariot, cannon, horse, and so on, rather than grouping them into borrowed major and minor categories. If you want a rough equivalent for a chess player's intuition, "cannon" lands closest to a rook that needs help to attack, stronger than a minor piece but a clear step below a genuinely unblockable major piece.

## Related questions

Is the chariot the only piece that clearly counts as a major piece?

By strength, yes, it is the strongest single piece type and the closest equivalent to a chess rook.

Where do the horse, elephant and advisor fit by this rough analogy?

The horse compares loosely to a minor piece; the elephant and advisor are weaker still, and both are purely defensive besides.

## Related xiangqi resources

What the pieces are worth

And the three times the numbers stop being true

Xiangqi vs chess

What carries over from western chess, and what does not

How the cannon moves

Captures only by jumping exactly one screen

## Try it on a real board

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