How does the elephant move in xiangqi?
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Direct answer
The elephant moves exactly two points diagonally — never one, never three. It is blocked if the point midway along that diagonal is occupied (塞象眼, “stuffing the elephant's eye”), and it may never cross the river. Each side has two, they can only ever reach seven points in total, and they are defenders, not attackers.
Two points diagonally, and no further
The elephant's move is fixed: two points along a diagonal, landing on the point two files and two ranks away. Because it always lands the same distance away, an elephant never changes the colour — in xiangqi terms, the parity — of the point it stands on, and the two elephants between them cover just seven points on their own half of the board.
The elephant below is on e2, its strongest point. Click it to see its four destinations. Now try to send it across the river: the board will refuse.
Click the elephant, then try to move it past the river.
Xiangqi position. Red: elephant e2, general e0. Black: general d9. Red to move.
The elephant's eye, and what elephants are for
Like the horse, the elephant can be blocked — by a piece sitting on the midpoint of its two-point diagonal. One piece there closes that direction completely.
Elephants exist to defend, and specifically to defend against cannons. An intact pair of elephants gives the general real cover; a general stripped of both is badly exposed to a cannon on the central file. This is why “breaking the elephants” (破象) is a standard attacking plan, and why losing an elephant for nothing is more serious than its nominal value of 2 suggests.
Common mistakes
Expecting the elephant to attack
It cannot cross the river, so it can never touch anything in the enemy camp. Every elephant move is a defensive or repositioning move.
Giving up both elephants cheaply
A general with no elephants is vulnerable to cannon attacks down the middle in a way that is hard to repair. Losing one is often acceptable; losing both usually is not.
Forgetting the eye can be stuffed
Placing a piece on the midpoint blocks the elephant just as surely as blocking a horse's leg — and defenders often overlook that their own piece is doing it.
Related questions
Can the elephant cross the river in xiangqi?
No, never. The elephant is confined to its own side of the river for the whole game, which limits it to seven reachable points and makes it purely defensive.
Why is the elephant sometimes called a bishop or a minister?
English sources vary. The red character 相 means “minister” and the black 象 means “elephant”; both name the same piece. “Bishop” comes from the loose comparison with the western piece — misleading, since a chess bishop slides any distance and never stops at the river.