Stories and allusions

Origin of Chu River and Han Boundary

Where is the Chu River and Han Boundary which the Xiangqi board refers to?

If you travel to Zhengzhou, a city in the Central Plains of China, from where you can take a car to Xingyang county in 30 minutes, and then drive to Guangwu Mountain, there, you can find a canyon dividing the Guangwu City into the eastern part and western part. This is the boundary separating the Chu and the Han as the historical story goes.

According to the historical material, during the Chu-Han warring period, the two armies led by Xiang Yu and Liu Bang pitted against each other. For several years, the troops of both sides were deployed in the Guangwu Mountain, but separated by the canyon. As Liu Bang had intercepted the supplies from Jiang-Hui area, Xiang Yu's men in the rear was weakly defended and his army would become an isolated force. Xiang Yu was so anxious that he wanted to challenge Liu Bang alone in single combat, in a attempt to win the victory by his individual reckless (and valiant) courage. However, he was instead confronted by Liu Bang's accusation of his ten crimes. Xiang Yu was in a rage and he without warning shot an arrow at Liu Bang, who was injured. As Xiang Yu's army was attacked in the front and rear and ran out of the supply, he had to make peace with Liu Bang. They divided the country into two states bt delimiting the canyon as the boundary line, thus "the west part belongs to the Han state and the east part the Chu state."

To remember this war, the later generations in the Tang and Song dynasties had the river on the Xiangqi board named as "Chu River and Han Boundary", which has been used till today.



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