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Xinhua News Agency, Hong Kong, Dec. 24 (Xinhua) -- Chess player Xu Ying: "No regrets" in Go life
Xinhua News Agency reporters Liu Jin and Wei Hua
Chinese furniture, Chinese painting, flower arrangement, bonsai ...... In a tree-lined multi-storey bungalow in Wan Chai, Hong Kong, the furnishings reflect the hostess's strong Chinese charm. Between the two Taishi chairs, an elegant chessboard is placed in a prominent position in the living room, and the lines of the chessboard are crisscrossed, which seems to reflect her colorful life.
The hostess of the house is Xu Ying, who came to live in Hong Kong about 10 years ago. As a professional Chinese Go player, she was known as the "golden partner" with Hua Yigang Baduan back then, and her image of talking about chess on TV still impresses many fans.
Xu Ying has won the Chinese Women's Go Championship and the World Women's Go Professional Championship several times as an individual and team champion. From a professional chess player to a university professor today, from the mainland to Hong Kong, roles are changing, life is changing, but Xu Ying's original intention has never changed - to spread and promote Go culture in her own way.
On November 23, Xu Ying was interviewed by reporters at home. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Zhu Wei
I first got to know Hong Kong because of Go
"A lot of people say that my personality doesn't look like playing Go. "Xu Ying has always felt like a person who Xi martial arts, with a little casualness in her outgoing and bold personality, quite chivalrous.
When she was 5 years old, an old gentleman in Beijing said that Xu Ying was a martial arts practitioner, but later she did not expect that she would become attached to Go, "waving her fists and feet" in this so-called "sit-down martial arts", and playing silently with her opponents.
At the age of 8, she began to learn chess at Beijing Shichahai Sports School, and a few years later, Xu Ying was selected by the Beijing Go women's team. Due to her outstanding performance in the 1987 National Games, Xu Ying entered the national junior Go team, and later became a student of Go world champion Ma Xiaochun.
In 1998, Xu Ying set foot on Hong Kong soil for the first time, and she and her chess partner Hua Yigang were invited from the mainland to Macau via Hong Kong to participate in a Go exchange activity. Although it is not a destination, Hong Kong, which has not long returned to the motherland, makes Xu Ying fascinated.
The first time she came to Hong Kong to participate in a Go exchange activity, Xu Ying still remembers it vividly. "It feels far away, but it feels like it's close at hand. "It was a winter 16 years ago, when a non-governmental Go training institution in Hong Kong held a Hong Kong children's Go exchange activity, and Xu Ying was a special guest to give on-site guidance to the young chess players in Hong Kong.
A few years later, Diocesan College, a well-known private school in Hong Kong, invited Xu Ying to come to the school to open a unique Go popularization class for students. "I really didn't expect that I would have such a deep relationship with the beautiful city of Hong Kong. She said.
On November 23, Xu Ying introduced the knowledge of Go to reporters. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Zhu Wei
Promote cultural exchanges in Go through chess to meet friends
In 2013, Xu Ying moved to Hong Kong. For a native of Beijing, the difference between the north and the south made her a little uncomfortable when she first arrived. Walking with friends on weekends allowed Xu Ying to slowly understand and fall in love with the city.
Compared to some popular sports sports, Go is relatively unpopular in Hong Kong. Although Hong Kong has achieved some success in popularizing Go among young people, "many local parents in Hong Kong still have a relatively limited understanding of Go."
Xu Ying believes that to promote Go in Hong Kong, it is not only necessary to teach Go skills, but also to promote the excellent traditional Chinese culture through the medium of Go. "Meeting friends through chess is a natural way to communicate. ”
In 2011, Xu Ying came to Shenzhen University as an associate professor and started her own way of teaching Go. Today, she shuttles between Shenzhen and Hong Kong every week, and has her sights set on the entire Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.
At the beginning of 2023, the Hong Kong Greater Bay Area Go Promotion Association, chaired by Xu Ying, was officially established. In July, the Association held the International University Go Open Tournament in Hong Kong for the first time. Xu Ying said that she hopes to make this competition a traditional Go event in Hong Kong.
In addition, Xu Ying also actively participates in promoting youth Go exchange activities in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and many Hong Kong young Go enthusiasts go to the mainland to learn chess skills and experience the charm of Go culture. "Young people from Hong Kong and the mainland need to have more exchanges, and Go is a good link. She said.
On November 23, Xu Ying introduced the knowledge of Go to reporters. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Zhu Wei
Oriental wisdom beyond victory and defeat
Although Go is a competitive sport, it is full of the essence of traditional Chinese culture. In Xu Ying's eyes, Go is a kind of competitive event that seeks harmony in confrontation, and it is not necessary to eat the opponent to play your own chess well, which is the oriental wisdom that transcends victory and defeat.
Mr. Jin Yong loved to play Go before his death. In the 80s of the last century, Chen Zude, Nie Weiping and other Go celebrities came to Hong Kong to play against Jin Yong. Jin Yong also got inspiration from Go and wrote the chess game into a novel, writing about the subtlety and wisdom hidden between the black and white chess pieces. Xu Ying said: "I really wish I could come to Hong Kong sooner, maybe I have the opportunity to play chess with Mr. Jin Yong." ”
As a city where East meets West, there are many foreigners living and working in Hong Kong. Xu Ying made some foreign friends, and they were very curious about this black and white chess piece. She patiently introduced them to the knowledge and history of Go, and explained the Chinese culture and mysteries contained in it, which greatly aroused their interest.
The philosophical thinking contained in Go is particularly thought-provoking - although there are winners and losers in competition, between the ups and downs of chess pieces, big and small, gains and losses, global and partial, just like life, test every choice.
For Xu Ying, in the past 40 years of Go life, every choice is like a practice. She said: "There are no regrets in this life. ”
(Video reporters: Long Jingyi, Liu Jin, Wei Hua)