Why do xiangqi sets look different from region to region?
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
Because set design was never standardised the way movement rules were. Traditional sets are flat engraved discs, usually wood or bone, with a character on top rather than a sculpted figure, but the exact style, colour scheme and material have always varied by region, era and simply what local craftsmen produced.
The main stylistic split
Most traditional sets keep pieces as flat, round discs with a carved or printed character, distinguished by colour (commonly red and black or red and green) and the character itself rather than by shape. A newer, mostly Western-influenced trend produces sculpted three-dimensional pieces shaped like the piece they represent, similar in spirit to a Western chess set, aimed partly at players coming from chess who find shape recognition more familiar than character recognition.
Why this variation never affected the rules
Because the rules of xiangqi are defined by position and movement, not by appearance, a flat disc marked 馬 and a sculpted horse figure are functionally identical pieces on the board. Regional set styles are a craft and market tradition layered on top of a rule set that has stayed uniform for centuries.
Related questions
Which style is used in competitive play?
Traditional flat, character-marked sets are standard in formal competition; sculpted sets are mostly a casual and beginner-market product.
Do set colours always mean the same thing?
Red is essentially universal for the first-moving side; the second side's colour varies more (black, green or blue all appear).
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