--- title: "Chess in Chinese — 象棋, 国际象棋 and How to Say Them · Xiangqi Master" description: "Chess in Chinese is 象棋 (xiàngqí) for the Chinese game and 国际象棋 (guójì xiàngqí) for the western one. The characters, the pronunciation, and every piece name in both scripts." url: https://xiangqimaster.com/chess-in-chinese updated: 2026-09-06 source: Xiangqi Master (https://xiangqimaster.com) license: CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) --- # Chess in Chinese Every position, move and legality claim on this page is verified programmatically against our open rules engine, which implements the WXF laws and is tested against the official 110-diagram repetition casebook. > Direct answer > > Chess in Chinese is 象棋 (xiàngqí) if you mean the Chinese game, and 国际象棋 (guójì xiàngqí) — literally “international chess” — if you mean the western one. Both end in 棋 (qí), the word for a board game of this kind. 象棋 is pronounced roughly “shyang-chee”. ## Which game do you mean? English uses “chess” for one game and qualifies everything else. Chinese does the opposite: 棋 (*qí*) is the general word for a board game of strategy, and each game is a different kind of 棋. So there is no single translation of “chess”, and which word you want depends entirely on which game you mean. | Simplified | Traditional | Pinyin | Literally | Which game | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 象棋 | 象棋 | xiàngqí | elephant game | **Chinese chess.** This is the one you mean if you are reading about xiangqi. | | 中国象棋 | 中國象棋 | zhōngguó xiàngqí | Chinese elephant game | The same game, said in full when the context is ambiguous. | | 国际象棋 | 國際象棋 | guójì xiàngqí | international elephant game | **Western chess.** The game with a queen and castling. | | 围棋 | 圍棋 | wéiqí | surrounding game | **Go.** Not a chess variant at all — a different game entirely. | In mainland China, 象棋 on its own almost always means the Chinese game. Say 中国象棋 when you are standing next to a western chess set and need to be clear, and 国际象棋 for the western game itself — a Chinese speaker will not read “国际象棋” as a variant of the Chinese one, any more than an English speaker reads “Chinese chess” as a variant of theirs. The one to be careful with is 围棋. It is routinely grouped with chess in English writing, but Go has no pieces that move, no capture of a king, and no relation to either game beyond being played on a grid. ## How to pronounce 象棋 Two syllables: **xiàng** then **qí**. In English spelling, roughly **“shyang-chee”**. - **xiàng** — the “x” is not a “z” or a “ks”. It is a soft *sh*, made with the tongue further forward than the English “sh”. Fourth tone: the voice falls sharply, as in an English command. - **qí** — the “q” is close to English *ch*, never “k”. Second tone: the voice rises, as in an English question. The two mistakes worth avoiding are saying the “q” as a “k” — “shyang-kee” — and putting the stress on the second syllable. Neither will stop you being understood, but the first is the one that gets noticed. You will also meet the older romanisation **hsiang chi** in books printed before pinyin became standard. It is the same word. ## Writing it: simplified and traditional 象棋 is written the same way in both scripts — neither character was simplified — so the name itself is safe to copy from anywhere. The words around it are not: 国际象棋 is 國際象棋 in traditional, and 围棋 is 圍棋. The piece names diverge much more, which matters because it decides what you see engraved on a set. Boards and books from mainland China use simplified glyphs; sets from Hong Kong and Taiwan, and almost all tournament diagrams, use traditional. This site uses traditional throughout, and so does the board on it. ## The pieces in Chinese Each side writes its pieces differently. The moves are identical — only the calligraphy differs, which is how you tell the two armies apart on a board where every piece is a plain disc with a character on it. Red is given first. | English | Traditional | Simplified | Pinyin | What it does | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | General | 帥 / 將 | 帅 / 将 | shuài / jiàng | The king. Confined to the palace. | | Advisor | 仕 / 士 | 仕 / 士 | shì | Also confined to the palace. | | Elephant | 相 / 象 | 相 / 象 | xiàng | Never crosses the river. | | Horse | 傌 / 馬 | 马 | mǎ | A knight that can be blocked. | | Chariot | 俥 / 車 | 车 | jū | The rook, and the strongest piece. | | Cannon | 炮 / 砲 | 炮 / 砲 | pào | Captures by jumping one piece. | | Soldier | 兵 / 卒 | 兵 / 卒 | bīng / zú | Never moves backwards. | Three of these are worth a note. The **elephant** is 相 for Red and 象 for Black, and 象 is the same character as the first half of 象棋 — the game is named after the piece. The **cannon** is 炮 or 砲 depending on the side, and the second form contains the stone radical, which is what the piece threw before gunpowder. The **general** is 帥 for Red and 將 for Black: two words for a commander, not a king, which is why English translations say “general”. [The glossary](https://xiangqimaster.com/glossary) has the full vocabulary — openings, tactics and endgame terms — with characters and pinyin for each. ## Saying the rest of it Enough to follow a game, or to ask for one: | Chinese | Pinyin | English | | --- | --- | --- | | 下棋 | xià qí | to play a board game — literally “to put down pieces” | | 你会下象棋吗？ | nǐ huì xià xiàngqí ma? | Do you play xiangqi? | | 将军 | jiāng jūn | check — said aloud, and the same word as “general” | | 将死 | jiāng sǐ | checkmate | | 和棋 | hé qí | a draw | | 棋盘 | qí pán | the board | | 棋子 | qí zǐ | a piece | Announcing 将军 when you give check is normal in casual play and is not considered rude, unlike the equivalent habit in western chess. ## Where to go from here If you came for the word and now want the game: 1. [What xiangqi is](https://xiangqimaster.com/xiangqi) — the game behind the name, in one page. 2. [How to play](https://xiangqimaster.com/learn/how-to-play-xiangqi) — every piece, and the three rules that surprise chess players. 3. [Chinese notation](https://xiangqimaster.com/rules/notation) — how moves are written with these characters, which is what you need to read any Chinese book on the game. 4. [Play a game](https://play.xiangqimaster.com/play?from=chess-in-chinese) — against the computer, with the pieces you have just learned to read. ## Related questions How do you say chess in Chinese? 象棋 (*xiàngqí*) for Chinese chess, and 国际象棋 (*guójì xiàngqí*) for western chess. There is no single word covering both — 棋 (*qí*) names the category, and each game qualifies it. What is the difference between 象棋 and 国际象棋? 象棋 is the Chinese game: a 9×10 board, a river, palaces and cannons. 国际象棋 means “international chess” and is the western game with a queen and castling. They share a common ancestor and nothing else about how they play. How is 象棋 pronounced? Roughly “shyang-chee”. The “x” is a soft *sh* and the “q” is close to English *ch*, never “k”. Falling tone on the first syllable, rising on the second. Is 围棋 a kind of chess? No. 围棋 (*wéiqí*) is Go. It shares the word 棋 with both chess games because 棋 means a board game of strategy, but nothing else — there are no piece moves and no king to trap. Is 象棋 written the same in simplified and traditional Chinese? Yes, neither character changes. The piece names do change, though, and so does 国际象棋 (traditional 國際象棋). What does 象棋 literally mean? 棋 is a board game of this kind, and 象 means elephant — so “the elephant game”, after the piece. 象 also carries a sense of *image* or *figure*, and some readings prefer “the game of figures”. Both are defensible. ## Related xiangqi resources What is xiangqi? The game behind the word Glossary Every term, with its characters Chinese notation Reading moves in characters Xiangqi vs chess How the two games differ ## See 象棋 on a board The characters make more sense once you have seen them engraved on the pieces.