The Confucius Institute In Sofia Тogether With the Chinese Cultural Centre In Sofia And the Ningbo Institute For Applied Reasearch On the Chinese Characters Have Organised an Introductory Seminar On Chinese Characters Chess

On 17th March 2025, the Confucius Institute in Sofia, the Chinese Cultural Centre in Sofia and the Ningbo Institute For Applied Reasearch On the Chinese Characters (NIARCC) have jointly organised an introductory seminar on Chinese characters chess. Mrs Zhang Xiling – a senior teacher of Chinese characters chess from NIARCC, has been the main lecturer. More than 20 people have participated in the online and offline activities, including Mrs Aksiniya Koleva – the Bulgarian director of the Confucius Institute in Sofia, Prof. Chen Ying – the Chinese director of the CIS, Mrs Liu Bei - a representative of the Chinese Cultural Centre in Sofia, numerous teachers from the Confucius Institute, together with many volunteer teachers and the administrative secretaries of CIS. The training session has been hosted by Prof. Chen Ying - the Chinese director of the Confucius Institute in Sofia.
Mrs Zhang Xiling has introduced and explained the chess pieces and the chess board for the Chinese characters chess game, as well as the rules for managing, arranging, and moving the chess pieces. She has explained how to make words, how to defeat the opponent and how to clear out the board. The lecturer has also demonstrated how to play the Chinese characters chess online. All participants have been focussed on learning the rules, and have actively participated in the questions part and in the discussion part.
This year, the Confucius Institute in Sofia will organise the first Chinese characters chess competition in Bulgaria in cooperation with the Chinese Cultural Centre in Sofia. On grounds of that, CIS have been sending out relevant materials to their Confucius Classrooms and to their teaching centers. After the seminar, the teachers of the Confucius Institute will continue their studies and will be responsible for teaching Chinese characters chess in their schools in preparation for the upcoming Chinese characters chess competition.
Developed by Mr Ren Zhifu - the Director of NIARCC, the Chinese characters chess is divided into two versions - a domestic one, and a foreign one.The domestic version is based on characters sourced from the list of commonly used characters in modern Chinese, and the foreign version is based on character sourced from the HSK levels syllabus, forming a chess culture of its own, with the dual functions of developing the player’s intellect and increasing their knowledge of Chinese characters.

The Confucius Institute in Sofia
Text: Chen Chen
Photos: Biliana Isaeva, Zhang Qing, Chen Chen
Editors: Prof. Chen Ying, Aksiniya Koleva, Chen Chen
English translation: Maya Kostadinova

Picture 1. The offline venue of the Chinese characters chess training session.

Picture 2. A screenshot from the lecture.

Picture 3. A demonstration of an online Chinese characters chess competition.

Picture 4. Chinese characters chess board.