Talk Talk
It was a few days ago, at my school. I was explaining about baduk to my new Russian friend. One Chinese girl, who were sitting not far from us, by chance overheard us. She asked me, "Oh, you are a professional chess player?" So I said, "No. I play weiqi." "You play what?" "Whe-ii-chi--" "Ah, weiqi."
I turned back to my Russian friend, and said, "You may haven't heard of it because it's mostly popular in China, Korea and Japan." Then suddenly the Chinese girl said, "It's not popular in China." Being embarrassed, I said "Yes, it is." But when she said "Come on, I am Chinese," I didn't know what to say.
I am still thinking what I should say if similar situations happen again. What would you say if you were me?
2010.10.01 17:36:32 (*.119.103.134)
Hmm... I've read somewhere, that there are around 20 millions of Go players in China. But this is less, than 2 percent, so the Chinese girl was right in her own way.Buy the way, I've heard from one Korean ~25 years old girl, that nowdays Go isn't really popular in South Korea and it is mostly played by the old mans. It's so sad, that not only most European people, but also many Asian people don't even know about this great game :(
2010.10.01 20:10:57 (*.227.32.216)
Well, at least she knew the name of the game! In Western countries you will never hear "Ah, weiqi(/go/baduk)", just "What?".
So you could say that is comparatively more popular in these 3 Asian countries that in the rest of the world, where unluckily nobody knows about the game (yet!).
You may want to speak about it next time you meet a Chinese pro. Blame them! ;-)
So you could say that is comparatively more popular in these 3 Asian countries that in the rest of the world, where unluckily nobody knows about the game (yet!).
You may want to speak about it next time you meet a Chinese pro. Blame them! ;-)
2010.10.01 20:24:51 (*.202.199.198)
I think it could have also have something to do with what region she comes from. I don't really know, but my impression is that it may not be as popular in the far western provinces. Also if you compare with other games, like Xiangqi, it is much less popular unfortunately. Of course compared with Korea. Is it really true that one in three Korean males are players?
2010.10.03 07:04:23 (*.202.199.198)
Why is Baduk so much more popular in Korea? One interesting point to consider is that in China it has to compete with Xiangqi, in Japan it has to compete with Shogi, and in the rest of the world has to overcome a lack of knowledge and to some degree compete with Chess. I believe all these games are inferior to Baduk, but people have indicated to me that they are easier to relate to at first because they feel the basic goal is clearer. "Checkmate your opponent's King" is seen as an easier concept to understand than "make more territory than your opponent". In that sense Baduk maybe takes a little bit longer to get used to, and ends up losing more beginners in countries where these other games are prevalent. While Korea does have Jang-gi, that game is basically just an older, more flawed version of Xiangqi, and hence is much less popular, and I believe is not really a competitor for Baduk. (Correct me if I'm wrong on this.) The second element is obviously the worldwide fallout of traditional games' popularity, largely due to video games and other media. The third element and antidote to this is media portrayal, which is where Korea has an advantage. First, there is still the effect of Lee Changho's initial international success, which attracted many young Koreans to the game and even made it an element of national pride to some extent. This is tied to the game's perception because there are so many young pros, and Baduk TV often highlights them and tries to portray the game as cool. From what I've heard, China has no programing devoted exclusively to Baduk except some pay-per-view, and in Japan there is IgoShogi, but there again, it has to share time with Shogi, which gets more attention, especially among younger people. Actually I also think that the popularity of Shogi may also be a reason why Japan's Baduk performance has lagged behind in recent years. Their talent is divided between the two games, and even some Baduk pros in Japan spend some time playing Shogi as a hobby. There is no such distraction in Korea. So, the question now is: how can we take these things into account to help spread the game?
2010.10.01 21:58:46 (*.209.119.15)
If I were you, maybe "Well all the Chinese I meet through my career know how to play pretty well!" and then a wink or smile. If she's not entirely humorless she'll understand. I suppose in the future you can say "It's mostly known in China, Korea..." and that way you won't be detained by the popularity police.
