Is the xiangqi starting position always identical, or does it vary?
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
Yes, always identical. Standard xiangqi has one single fixed starting position, the same 32 pieces on the same 32 points, every single game. There is nothing in mainstream xiangqi resembling a randomised or shuffled setup; the entire game's variety comes from the moves played afterward, not from the arrangement pieces begin in.
Why this is worth stating plainly
Players arriving from other games sometimes assume a randomised-start variant exists, since that idea is well known from some western chess variants. Nothing equivalent is standard in xiangqi: every rated game, every tournament, every casual park match begins from the identical setup described at board setup.
Where all the variety actually comes from instead
Because the start never changes, the game's opening theory is a genuinely shared body of knowledge, every serious player's early moves are responding to the same starting picture everyone else is. Variety comes entirely from which of the many reasonable early moves each side chooses, not from any difference in where the pieces began.
Related questions
Are there any casual variants with a randomised start?
Informal experiments exist, but none are standard or widely played the way the fixed setup is.
Does the handicap tradition count as a different starting position?
In a sense, since a piece is removed before play begins, but it is a deliberate, agreed adjustment for mismatched strength, not a random variation. See handicap play.
.