Yunzi
Encyclopedia
Go (board game)
Go , is an ancient board game for two players that originated in China more than 2,000 years ago...
(Go) pieces manufactured in the Chinese
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
province
Province
A province is a territorial unit, almost always an administrative division, within a country or state.-Etymology:The English word "province" is attested since about 1330 and derives from the 13th-century Old French "province," which itself comes from the Latin word "provincia," which referred to...
of Yunnan
Yunnan
Yunnan is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the far southwest of the country spanning approximately and with a population of 45.7 million . The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders Burma, Laos, and Vietnam.Yunnan is situated in a mountainous area, with...
. At various times in history they have also been termed yunbian (云扁) and yunyaozi (云窑子). Though technically Yunzi refers only to sintered stones made of "yunzi" material (the exact composition is a secret), the term can also sometimes connotate stones which are single-convex of any material. Yunzi-style stones made of jade
Jade
Jade is an ornamental stone.The term jade is applied to two different metamorphic rocks that are made up of different silicate minerals:...
for instance, were often presented to the reigning emperor and his court ancient China.
Appearance
Yunzi are delicately made with a green luster yet are neither brittle nor slippery. The black and white pieces each have unique individual qualities. Old style white pieces are opaque with a tint of yellow or green. The black pieces are dark, and when held to the light have a translucent green hue. Newer yunzi, however, have pure white stones.History
Tang Dynasty
The Tang Dynasty was an imperial dynasty of China preceded by the Sui Dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period. It was founded by the Li family, who seized power during the decline and collapse of the Sui Empire...
and reached its peak in the Ming
Ming Dynasty
The Ming Dynasty, also Empire of the Great Ming, was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty. The Ming, "one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history", was the last dynasty in China ruled by ethnic...
and Qing
Qing Dynasty
The Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China....
dynasties; the total verifiable history of yunzi spans at least five hundred years.
Among yunzi, most famous was the yongzi (永子) manufactured by Yongchang Fu (永昌府, today the city of Baoshan, Yunnan) during the Ming dynasty. It was said that after a fire broke out in an imperial treasury, one of the keepers, who was from Yongchang Fu, discovered that melted pearl
Pearl
A pearl is a hard object produced within the soft tissue of a living shelled mollusk. Just like the shell of a mollusk, a pearl is made up of calcium carbonate in minute crystalline form, which has been deposited in concentric layers. The ideal pearl is perfectly round and smooth, but many other...
s and jade
Jade
Jade is an ornamental stone.The term jade is applied to two different metamorphic rocks that are made up of different silicate minerals:...
had a special luster. When he returned to his hometown, he fashioned yunzi out of the agate
Agate
Agate is a microcrystalline variety of silica, chiefly chalcedony, characterised by its fineness of grain and brightness of color. Although agates may be found in various kinds of rock, they are classically associated with volcanic rocks and can be common in certain metamorphic rocks.-Etymology...
and amber
Amber
Amber is fossilized tree resin , which has been appreciated for its color and natural beauty since Neolithic times. Amber is used as an ingredient in perfumes, as a healing agent in folk medicine, and as jewelry. There are five classes of amber, defined on the basis of their chemical constituents...
for which Yongchang Fu was famous. These yunzi went on to be prized by the literati and were offered to the Emperor.
Yunzi also appeared frequently in Chinese literature
Chinese literature
Chinese literature extends thousands of years, from the earliest recorded dynastic court archives to the mature fictional novels that arose during the Ming Dynasty to entertain the masses of literate Chinese...
as the subject of a number of verses penned over the years, being mentioned in works such as Ming Yi Tong Zhi (Ming Dynasty Comprehensive Geographic Survey) and Travels of Xu Xiake, both of which favored the yongzi.
Today in Baoshan there are still people who have antiques dating from the Ming dynasty; among those there remain one and a half original yongzi sets.
The yunzi have also been presented to international dignitaries including Queen Elizabeth II.
The traditional art of making yunzi was lost during the first few years of the 20th Century because of war in the region. In 1964, General Chen Yi
Chen Yi (communist)
Chen Yi was a Chinese communist military commander and politician. He served as the 2nd Mayor of Shanghai and the 2nd Foreign Minister of China.-Biography:Chen was born in Lezhi, near Chengdu, Sichuan, into a moderately wealthy magistrate's family....
examined the situation of yunzi while inspecting Yunnan. Zhou Enlai
Zhou Enlai
Zhou Enlai was the first Premier of the People's Republic of China, serving from October 1949 until his death in January 1976...
also inquired about the possible reproduction of yunzi. The Yunnan Sports Commission investigated the Yunzi manufacturing processes and rediscovered the art.
In 1974, the state-run Yunnan Weiqi Factory began manufacturing yunzi stones. They are used in professional weiqi tournaments in China and elsewhere. According to Chinese law, the yunzi stones can only be produced by the state run Yunzi company. The company creates the yunzi in an old factory that was used by the American Flying Tigers
Flying Tigers
The 1st American Volunteer Group of the Chinese Air Force in 1941–1942, famously nicknamed the Flying Tigers, was composed of pilots from the United States Army , Navy , and Marine Corps , recruited under presidential sanction and commanded by Claire Lee Chennault. The ground crew and headquarters...
as barracks during World War II. The formula is thought to be ground Yunnan mountain stones and agate.
Caring for yunzi
Like other types of stones, yunzi should be washed and dried with a gentle soap to remove any dust from the packaging/manufacturing process. In addition, they should be oiled with a light machine oil such as mineral oilMineral oil
A mineral oil is any of various colorless, odorless, light mixtures of alkanes in the C15 to C40 range from a non-vegetable source, particularly a distillate of petroleum....
; vegetable oils, such as olive
Olive oil
Olive oil is an oil obtained from the olive , a traditional tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin. It is commonly used in cooking, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and soaps and as a fuel for traditional oil lamps...
or canola should never be used for this purpose since they will go rancid. Like glass stones yunzi are very durable but one should take care never to drop or slam stones on metal or other hard surfaces to prevent chipping.