Chinese Game Collections

My new order of weiqi books arrived a few days ago. This time, it's all professional game collections, since that way I don't need to read much Chinese. ;) The top three books are part of a series on Japanese masters, and the bottom two are the complete collection of Japanese "castle games" played during the Edo period. (I think the publisher only printed 800 copies, so it's sort of a collector's item) 

From left to right: Honinbo Dosaku, Honinbo Jowa, Honinbo Shuei

Dosaku is my favorite master to replay. :)

The series also has Shusaku, Shuho, and Shusai, but I didn't get those for various reasons.

   A look at the contents of the Dosaku collection.

"The castle games were played in the Shogun's castle by the best Japanese players of the day. " - Sensei's Library

The original Japanese version of this collection is ridiculously rare/expensive, so it's good to have an affordable Chinese edition.

Index of the games

Easy to read diagrams inside.

I've started replaying one of the games.

My study of these classic games will hopefully prove to be helpful, although I'm still looking for people to play. I have a new lead on a weiqi club in the city, so I'll go hunting for it this weekend.

My stay in China

Despite my job teaching English in the capital of Jiangxi Province (Nanchang), I sadly have not found anyone to play Go with on a regular basis. I've consoled myself by taking advantage of the ridiculously low book prices to stock up on a few items.  Some I bought at the Xinhua bookstore downtown, but most of them I had to buy online through Dangdang.com.

I got Lee Changho's six volume tesuji series (top left), which was sold out in most places online, along with some tsumego collections, and a couple of other books which I may review later.

A Chinese edition of the classic Japanese tsumego collection Igo Hatsuyoron that was published a few years ago with new research by Chinese professionals.

Still can't read most of the commentary for the diagrams, although I'm working on it.

 China also has a semi-monthly Go magazine called Weiqi Tiandi (World of Weiqi), which I've been picking up at the newsstands downtown.

I plan on trying to translate some of the more interesting articles into English, possibly with the help of my students.  I'll keep on buying more issues until I leave China, of course. I also plan on picking up a few more books through Dangdang.