The Chess King

Name: The Chess King
ISBN: 9787542665010

A ChengShanghai Joint Publishing Company · ChinaMay 2019

4.4

Word count: 84K words
Chapters: 29
ISBN: 9787542665010

Report an error Find this book

Summary

This edition of The Chess Master collects the classic "three kings" novellas along with rare documents, illustrations from the Stars Art Exhibition, and a mimeographed essay on craft from the journal Jintian, offering a full view of the warmth and poise of Ah Cheng, a true artisan of letters. "In terms of its surface as a worldly novel, The Chess Master contains a 'heroic legend' and a 'realistic romance'; the romantic element is relatively oblique, and because critics are unfamiliar with the worldly, they have yet to decipher it—probably it will take another twenty or thirty years. Many commentators mention the 'eating' in The Chess Master, and it almost lets them see the plain original meaning of 'the worldly,' except that their habitual grand phrases have carried them away from it. What lies latent in The King of Trees is an unenlightened conscience—not scientific but primitive—yet what it confronts is not science but stupidity, which drives both sides toward failure. Stupidity has no conscience, so conscience, even unenlightened, still has value for China. My own favorite is The King of Children. The story explicitly states at the outset that it was written in 1976; what the future would bring, no one knew. By then I was already a peasant, writing things in my spare time, wasting paper. The state of life then was simply noncooperation."

Editor's review

The Chess Master is Ah Cheng's representative work and a novella of considerable weight in contemporary Chinese literature. With a calm, restrained brush, it tells—through the eyes of an educated youth sent down to the countryside—how a young man named Wang Yisheng, in a particular era, takes chess as his spiritual anchor and displays astonishing inner strength amid barren material conditions. Ah Cheng's prose is polished and precise, carrying the flavor of classical vernacular while brimming with the tension of modern fiction; it elevates the seemingly worldly themes of 'eating' and 'chess' to a philosophy of life concerned with survival and spiritual pursuit. Wang Yisheng's obsession of 'playing chess not for a living,' and the stunning final depiction of the nine-game simultaneous exhibition, are not merely a celebration of personal skill but the shaping of a pure, resilient spiritual character that transcends the currents of the age. Reading The Chess Master, one deeply feels how, in a time of scarcity, cultural tradition endures in the individual in its most tenacious form, and what immense dignity and possibility 'the human being' itself contains. The novel is short but rich in implication; its literary value, tested by time, appears ever more precious.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who love contemporary Chinese literature, especially root-seeking and educated-youth fiction.
Readers who appreciate refined language, restrained narration, and a style rich in classical flavor.
Readers interested in the individual's inner world and conditions of existence in a specific historical period.
Readers hoping to draw from literature spiritual strength and life insight that transcend the age.

Not a good fit for

Readers who prefer plot-driven, fast-paced fiction with intense dramatic conflict.
Readers wholly unfamiliar with the historical background and unwilling to learn anything about it.

Reading tips

It is advisable to slow down and savor the rich imagery and emotional tension behind Ah Cheng's spare prose.
Pay attention to the contrast and connection between the detailed descriptions of 'eating' and the spiritual pursuit of 'chess.'
After reading, extend to Ah Cheng's other works (such as The King of Trees and The King of Children) for a fuller understanding of his style and intellectual trajectory.

About the publisher

Shanghai Joint Publishing Company China · Founded in 1986

Shanghai Joint Publishing Company focuses on humanities and social science publishing and has developed a distinctive profile in the collation and translation of classical literature and world classics. Its 258 titles in the database cover classical literature, world classics, foreign literature, literary appreciation, general biography, and modern poetry. Representative publications include the Annotated Dream of the Red Chamber by Zhiyanzhai series, as well as collected and selected works by classic authors such as Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, and Shakespeare. Its authors and translators include Cao Xueqin, Zhiyanzhai, Dostoevsky, Leo Tolstoy, Zang Zhonglun, Zeng Siyi, Xu Zhenya, and Cao Ying. The press emphasizes the annotated collation of classic texts and the publication of authoritative translations, forming a publishing profile that spans both Chinese classical literature and world literary classics. Because public information on some details of its publishing history is limited, they are not discussed here.

版权信息
小传
简体版自序
棋王
一
二
三
四
树王
一
二
三
四
五
六
七
八
九
十
孩子王
一
二
三
四
五
六
附录
小说选日文版自序
台湾版自序

FAQ

What is the background of The Chess Master?

The story takes place mainly during the 'sent-down to the countryside' movement in China in the 1960s and 1970s; the protagonist is an educated youth in a remote region. This setting provides a unique stage for the characters' fates and for the spiritual world represented by chess.

Why is The Chess Master considered a representative work of 'root-seeking literature'?

Through its exhaustive depiction of traditional Chinese chess culture, The Chess Master explores how the nation's spiritual and cultural roots persisted through turbulent times. The character Wang Yisheng embodies the Daoist tradition of 'skill approaching the Way' and detachment from the external world, reflecting the author's deep reflection on the spirit of national culture.

What are the characteristics of Ah Cheng's writing style?

Ah Cheng's language is known for its concision, density, and mastery of plain description. He excels at sketching scenes and characters with very few words, leaving much blank space behind the text for readers to savor. His style blends the flavor of classical notebooks with modern narrative technique—deep feeling within calm, and the extraordinary within the ordinary.

Comments

Find this book

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

A Cheng Author · Chinese · 1949

A Cheng, whose original name is Zhong Acheng, was born in Beijing in 1949, with his ancestral home in Jiangjin, Chongqing. He is a contemporary Chinese writer and screenwriter. He rose to fame with his novella The Chess Master in 1984 and later published such works as The Tree King, The King of Children, and All Over the World. Mostly taking social life as their subject, these works are written in a concise and restrained style, with calm and unhurried narration, giving him a distinctive place in contemporary Chinese writing. Besides fiction, he also writes essays and miscellaneous pieces, such as Venice Diary, Idle Talk, and Common Sense and General Knowledge, which discuss observations, daily life, and reading, in plain prose informed by insight. He has also worked as a screenwriter, including for the films Hibiscus Town and The Assassin. His works are widely read, and this site holds five of his titles. Public information about his early life is limited; the above introduction focuses on the themes, style, and influence of his writing.