How Many Pieces Are in Chinese Chess? A Complete Guide to Xiangqi's 32 Pieces

Chinese chess, called Xiangqi, has never been more natural than it is when you see two old men in a Beijing park, quietly and intensely maneuvering around the wooden discs. It is one of the most popular strategy games in the world, with hundreds of millions of active users in China, Vietnam and the Chinese community all over the world. Surprisingly, however, the first useful question that will come up for the novice is "How many pieces are there on Chinese chess?

The answer is “32” and it is quite straightforward. In each game, both sides (Red and Black) will have 7 different piece types which they control exactly by 16 pieces. However, that's just half the story. It's not so much about learning the facts, but knowing why they are lined up in that way, and what each piece does on the board.

The 32-Piece Breakdown: Red vs. Black

The game of Xiangqi is played on a grid of 9x10 (surprising many players coming from international chess) intersecting lines. Pieces are placed on points where lines intersect; not inside the squares. All players begin with the same 16 pieces, with the sole exception that they vary in color in some instances (and in a few, by name).

Here's the full distribution for one side:

Add those up — 1+2+2+2+2+2+5 — and you get 16 pieces per side, 32 total. It is because that the numbers are consistent with all the authoritative Chinese chess references and all the official rule sets that are used in the Chinese Chess tourneys, including those played under the Asian Xiangqi Federation.

A point to be noted for learners of the English language, however, is that the two types of pieces have different names in Red and Black, although they move in the same way. On the Red side, the General is named "Shuai" and the Black side is named "Jiang". The Advisor and Elephant pieces are the same in both ways and differ in color. This naming is not pretty, it's a reflection of the origin of the game in reality, where Red and Black armies (most often Han and Chu armies from Chinese history) would naturally have their own names for the same grade.

Why the Piece Count is not Arbitrary

One of the most typical errors by foreigners learning chess is that they select the placement of the pieces to be "however many felt balanced. It's not. The number of pieces corresponds to a certain tactical position on the 9x10 board layout, and the ratios are more or less constant since the recorded history.

The General is at 1 piece each side as the entire game is about what happens to it; in international chess the game is about the king being checkmated, but in this case the General is even more restricted in movement, being trapped in the 3x3 “palace” area at the back of the board.

Advisors and Elephants are shown twice on each side as they surround the palace as a defence. The combination of two Advisors on their respective half-board diagonals, with two Elephants on fixed diagonal points on their respective half-board makes a layered defense that just one piece of either type will never be able to achieve. If one Advisor is removed, the General's flank is open and if both Advisors are removed, then the King is quite vulnerable — hence the fact that experienced players rarely trade both Advisors early unless they have to.

Each of the 3 (offensive) pieces is 2 pieces each, the logic of the army on the battlefield is considered: 1 piece on the left flank, 1 piece on the right flank. The Chariot's move is unrestricted like a rook in international chess and is generally considered by the competitive players to be the most valuable piece on the board — this is stated in the old Chinese chess proverb, "one Chariot is worth ten lesser pieces. The Horse is an L-shaped move like a knight, and has the ability to effect up to 8 points at once from a central spot. Unlike the other pieces, there is no exact match to the Cannon in Western chess, but its movement pattern can capture by jumping over exactly one piece (friend or foe) to strike a target beyond that piece, and can move freely along open lines, making placement one of the more subtle skills for the intermediate player.

Soldiers are the most numerous piece type because they are the soldier on the front line that will be expended. A Soldier is allowed to move only one point forward before crossing the river (the horizontal line that is in the middle of the board). It crosses and is able to move sideways as well, but can never go backwards. While they may be individually weak, if five Soldiers work together they can apply pressure over an extended period of time that can break an opponent's position — something they were built to do.

A comparison of the Red Pieces and Black Pieces side by side, with all functions explained.

The game of Xiangqi, like international chess, is one of pure information and decision making, not asymmetric starting positions, due to the perfect symmetry of both sides in quantity and capability. The only 'built-in' advantage is the first move, which is given to Red, by convention.

What is this like to International Chess?What similarities does this have to International Chess?

The piece comparison is actually helpful when entering Xiangqi from the chess world, as a western chess player. International chess also provides each side with 16 pieces, but the arrangement within the side is somewhat different: 8 pawns instead of 5 soldiers, 2 bishops and 2 knights, as opposed to 2 elephants and 2 horses, 2 rooks instead of 2 chariots, and a queen/king pair as opposed to a General/advisor pair. That there are the same 32 pieces in each game is a coincidence (but an interesting one to some new players) but the interaction of the pieces with the board geometry is completely different, which is partly because Xiangqi pieces are placed on intersections and not squares, and partly because there is no Western counterpart to the screen-capture mechanic used in the Cannon.

The tips provided here are designed to help new players get the hang of poker.

When you're establishing an outline for the first time, here is the functional list you must have: 16 Red pieces and 16 Black pieces, one General in each player's palace, two Advisors and two Elephants on each side's defensive screen, two Chariots and two Horses on each player's flanks, two Cannons just in front of each player's Horses, and five Soldiers evenly spread across the third row from each player's edge of the board. If you see any of those counts are not correct, there is a possibility that your set is incomplete or your pieces are from a different production batch — something more common than you may think with low cost sets of Xiangqi sold online.

It's not the trivial knowledge just to know the full 32 piece structure. The very fact that you have to know where the pieces are and why, is the basis for all subsequent learning in the game — piece valuation, opening theory and end-game technique.