Asia: Local Studies / Global Themes #28: Go Nation: Chinese Masculinities and the Game of Weiqi in China

Go (Weiqi in Chinese) is one of the most popular games in East Asia, with a steadily increasing fan base around the world. Like chess, Go is a logic game but it is much older, with written records mentioning the game that date back to the 4th century BC. As Chinese politics have changed over the last two millennia, so too has the imagery of the game. In Imperial times it was seen as a tool to seek religious enlightenment and was one of the four noble arts that were a requisite to becoming a cultured gentleman. During the Cultural Revolution it was a stigmatized emblem of the lasting effects of feudalism. Today, it marks the reemergence of cultured gentlemen as an idealized model of manhood. Marc L. Moskowitz explores the fascinating history of the game, as well as providing a vivid snapshot of Chinese Go players today. Go Nation uses this game to come to a better understanding of Chinese masculinity, nationalism, and class, as the PRC reconfigures its history and traditions to meet the future.

Marc L. Moskowitz is Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of South Carolina. He is the author of several books, including Cries of Joys, Songs of Sorrow: Chinese Pop Music and Its Cultural Connotations.

Preface

Fieldwork

Notes on Terminology

Acknowledgements

Chapter 1. Introduction

The Game of Weiqi

New Technologies

The Ranking System

Gender Coding and the Naturalization of Difference

Weiqi Women

Ambiguous Identities and Taiwans Womens Team

Constructing Masculinities and the Weiqi Sphere

Chapter 2. Multiple Metaphors and Mystical Imaginaries: A Cultural History of  Weiqi

The Rules

Weiqi in Comparison with Chess

Religious Mysticism and Historical Teleologies

From Stigma to Status

Weiqis War Imagery

Chapter 3. Nation, Race, and Man

The Scholar and the Warrior

Chinese Masculinities: Individual Formation and Nationalist Discourses

Anti-Japanese Sentiments as Nation Building

Japans Weiqi Legacy

Mastering East Asia: National Rivalries and International Competitions

Conceptualizing Nations, Rethinking Play

An Unexpected Nostalgia for the Japanese Era

Chapter 4. Becoming Men: Childrens Training in Contemporary China

Weiqi Teachers and the Confucian Ideal

Modernizing Influences—Weiqi Schools as Corporate Structures

The Students

Weiqi as a Disciplinary Mechanism

Weiqi as Sport—Beyond the Cartesian Divide

Disciplining Parents

Chapter 5. A Certain Man: University Students, Amateurs, and Professionals

Class Consciousness and Relentless Competition

Suzhi

Weiqis Suzhi Discourse

The Peking University Weiqi Team, Ranks, and the Amateur/Professional Divide

Professional Training

Facing the Future

Chapter 6. Retirement and Constructions of Masculinity Among Working Class Weiqi Players

First Contact

Retirement

Park Culture

Kibitzing as a Social Ideal

Lived Histories

Masculinity Among the Working Class at the Park

Chapter 7. Conclusion:  Looking Forward to a Bygone Age

Glossary of Terms

Citations

Index