Travelling chinese chess/xiangqi set

[Magnetic chess set], 31/32 pieces.
( For a more thorough description of a Chinese chess set, see http://anthonylesq.blogspot.sg/2013/07/chinese-chessxiangqi-set-butterfly-brand.html)

  The following magnetic Chinese chess set is extremely small, ( roughly 12x6 cm). This set is probably intended to be portable, as evidenced by it's small size, and the fact that the chessboard also doubles as a storage container for the chess pieces.  The pieces are magnetic, a necessity at this small scale.

A picture of the board. Note the missing green pawn. Unlike the "butterfly brand" chess set, this set uses red and green to distinguish the sides.

A closeup of the pieces. Unlike the butterfly brand set, the characters for the "cannon" pieces are written differently for opposing sides; 炮 for red, and 砲 for green. The characters for the "valet" pieces are also written differently, 仕 for red, and 士 for green.

 



Chinese chess/xiangqi set ("Butterfly brand")

" 中國象棋 " ( Chinese chess set) , 32 pieces, butterfly brand.

This set is a typical example of the Chinese chess, or xiangqi set. Despite chess and xiangqi having evolved from the same ancestor, or so we are told, the sets are very different

the pieces are as follows. :.
Red pieces                兵      ,   炮      ,    車     ,      馬     ,  相       ,士    , 帥
black pieces              卒      ,   炮      ,   車      ,      馬    ,   象      , 士    , 將
Equivellant in chess  pawn  , ( none) ,   Rook , Knight,  Bishop, ( none), King

Note the fact that equivilant ranks are written differently for the opposing sides

Some pieces, like the 炮 ( cannon) and 士( valet) have no equivalent on chess. The cannon is a most  perculiar piece. It can only make a capture, when there is a piece in between it and the target . The cannon has to "jump" over a piece , so to speak. The Valets are another curious piece. They perform a function somewhat similar to the bishops in chess, moving diagonally within the confines of the "square" in the back of the board.
As can be clearly seen from the above diagram, the pieces are made of roundels of wood, on which are engraved the characters. The characters are then coloured in with paint. The colours used are, in this case, red & black, although I have seen green replace black in some sets.

 

the pieces laid out on the board

 

Chess sets such as this one come in plastic cases, which are in the form of a rectangle with 2 semicircles attached to the short edges. They are almost invariably supplied with a chessboard, printed on a thin plastic, much like the sort plastic bags are made of. In some of the older sets, we find that they are made of paper.

 



Four colour cards- Hokkien

四色牌/ (Four colour cards), Anon - 112 c.

 Four colour cards, or Si sek pai as they are known in hokkien, are a form of playing card used in china and a great part of S/E asia. These cards are used to play a game much like rummy.

As the name of the deck implies, there are four suits, which are represented by the background colours of the cards. Each of the suits consists of seven subjects, taken from the ranks of a chinese chess ( Xiangqi) set.  The characters are written slightly differently for each side, and this difference is reflected in some decks, like this one. They are:

將 仕  相 車 馬 炮  卒 for Black,&

 帥 士  象 車 馬 炮 兵 for red. ~~

( General, valet, minister/ elephant , chariot, horse, and soldier)

Thus making a unit of 28 cards. Four units are united together to form a full deck of 112 cards.

  Now, the deck we have here is a smoewhat remarkable preservation- Such cards have been extinct in singapore for the past 30 or so years. This example is very old stock, which was somehow preserved in a chinese art supplier's back room,  from the properiteror's previous busisness as a game mearchant.

the red & yellow suits, and the back

As you can see, the cards are much shorter than the ones usually seen today. ( see ---) .
Also note the characters. Like the chess sets, they are written differently for each of the suits.
My grandaunt informs me that the sets are more or less identical to the cards of her youth, the only difference being that these cards are slightly shorter.

The green & white suits. The white suit appears pink due to the dye from the backs rubbing off on the paper

Another feature you may have spotted is the chinese charaters in the center of the card. I have yet to decipher their meaning, but they may be the company's name