Item number: X59

Year: AD 960-1279 presumed

Material: Bronze

Size: 33.3 x 32.5 x 4.3 mm

Weight: 26 g

Provenance: Fuchin Coin 2011

This object is a bronze game piece featuring the inscribed character pào (砲, “cannon”) on its obverse.

The piece is circular in form, with the character positioned in the centre and a rim running along the periphery. The reverse shares an identical structural design; however, its central imagery has become indistinct due to erosion. Based on comparisons with analogous cultural relics, it is conjectured that the reverse originally depicted a trebuchet (traction catapult).

Theories regarding the origins of Chinese chess (Xiangqi) remain diverse and debated. From an etymological perspective, principal hypotheses include the “ivory chess” theory, the “inclusion of elephant pieces” theory, and the “mental imagery” (yixiang) theory. Nevertheless, the “ivory chess” hypothesis encompasses various ancient games where pieces happened to be crafted from ivory; the “elephant pieces” theory fails to distinguish Xiangqi from other long-standing animal-themed games; and the “mental imagery” theory was proposed as late as the Northern Song Dynasty (AD 960–1127), making it impossible to exclude other forms of military-themed board games. Regarding its attribution to a specific inventor, historical accounts credit figures such as the Yellow Emperor, Shennong, Xiang (the brother of Emperor Shun), King Wu of Zhou, Han Xin, Niu Sengru, and Emperor Wu of Northern Zhou, or suggest an Indian provenance—a list far too extensive to recount in full.

The earliest record discussing the lineage of the “cannon” piece (pào) appears in the Fozu Lidai Tongzai (Comprehensive Record of the Buddha’s Successive Generations) by the Yuan Dynasty monk Nianchang, which states: “In antiquity, Shennong used the sun, moon, and stars as symbols; later, the Tang Chancellor Niu Sengru employed chariots, horses, generals, and soldiers, adding the cannon to represent a mechanical engine.” However, Niu Sengru’s own work, Xuanguai Lu (Records of Mysterious and Supernatural Wonders), describes a dream by Cen Shun in which a chess match manifests as military formations: “Both armies possessed a horse, which moved three feet diagonally before stopping. Upon the drum sounding again, each had a foot soldier who moved one foot horizontally. At the next drumbeat, the chariots advanced.” Across this narrative of over one thousand characters, there is no mention of the “cannon” piece; consequently, the account provided by the Yuan monk is likely a false attribution.

The game recognised today as Xiangqi achieved its definitive form and widespread popularity during the Northern Song Dynasty. By the early Southern Song Dynasty (AD 1127–1279), the monk Yuxian recorded: “Regarding the phonetic interpretation: the Sanskrit prāsaka translates as ‘soldier,’ meaning a military game. It is played on a board with drawn paths, divided by a river in the middle, with sixteen pieces per side including soldiers, cannons, chariots, horses, and elephants; it is what the common people call Xiangji (Xiangqi).” This indicates that the game had long since become a firmly established social custom.

The character pào (砲) first appeared in the Eastern Han Dynasty (AD 25–220) work Shiming (Explaining Names) as a variant character for báo (雹, “hail”). Later, in the Yupian (Jade Chapters) compiled by Gu Yewang during the Liang Dynasty of the Southern Dynasties (AD 502–557), it was defined simply as “stone.” In neither instance did the term encompass the meaning of a trebuchet or a projectile launched by such a machine. It was not until the Tang Dynasty (AD 618–907) at the latest that the character became associated with pào (礮), a term specifically denoting a trebuchet, eventually becoming a variant character for it.

物件編號: X59

年代: 推測為公元 960-1279 年

材料: 青銅

尺寸: 33.3 x 32.5 x 4.3 mm

重量: 26 g

來源: 福君錢幣 2011

這是一枚銅質棋子，面文「砲」。

棋子呈圓形，正面中央文字為「砲」，邊緣有環。背面形制一致，但中央漫漶不清，依一些類似的文物推測，可能描繪的是投石機。

中國象棋的起源眾說紛紜，以名論，有「象牙棋」說、「棋中有象子」說、「意象」說。但象牙棋說包含許多其他棋子可能以象牙為材質的博戲；「棋中有象子」說無法排除同樣流傳久遠的動物棋；「意象」說晚至北宋才提出，且無法排除各類兵棋的可能。以發明者論，有黃帝、神農氏、舜弟象、周武王、韓信、牛僧孺、北周武帝、印度傳入等，族繁不及備載。最早言「炮」棋源流者，為元僧念常所著《佛祖歷代通載》，言「昔神農以日月星辰為象；唐相國牛僧孺用車馬將士卒，加炮代之為機矣。」但牛僧孺自著《玄怪錄》，述岑順夢中弈棋，化作軍陣：「兩軍俱有一馬，斜去三尺，止。又鼓之，各有一步卒，橫行一尺。又鼓之，車進。」一千餘字，未曾提到「炮」子，元僧說法大概為偽托。而現代所稱之象棋，大概於北宋年間逐漸定型並普及。至南宋初，僧人與咸記下：「釋音雲：『梵語波羅塞，此翻兵，即兵戲也。』即今以板畫路，中間界之以河，各設十六子：卒、炮、車、馬、象等，俗謂象基者是也。」可見象棋已久而成俗了。

文字「砲」最早出自東漢《釋名》，為「雹」的異體字，南朝梁，顧野王的《玉篇》，釋義「石也」，均未含投石機或機石之意。最晚至唐時才與指稱投石機的「礮」相聯繫，成為「礮」的異體字。