THE GREAT 21ST CENTURY HARMONY WEIQI GAME BETWEEN CHINA AND AMERICA

WILL HERALD WORLD HARMONY

By Francis C W Fung, Ph.D.

Weiqi is a great ancient Chinese mental exercise board game play by Asians with
two opposing group of black and white stones. The game is played on a 19 by 19
squares board with two very simple rules. Despite its simplicity but with a large
board and 391 pieces that allow infinite variations, it is a game that requires high
degree of concentration of basic mental processes such as flexibility, connectivity
and inclusivity. The objective is to reach territory dynamic balance (harmony)
through a series of encirclement and counter encirclement moves. The player
declared to have the upper hand between equal players sometimes is only ahead by
one or two squares. It is called the Harmony Game of sharing by the most famous
Chinese weiqi Saint Wu Chingyuan, because the end game is for both players to
accept the dynamic balanced state with only one or two occupied differences in
squares. Because of its infinite variations, no two weiqi games are the same. The
fact that computer can beat the top notch chess player but cannot beat a top notch
weiqi player is due mostly to the infinite variations of the game.
Compared to weiqi the European chess game is played on an 8 by 8 squares board.
There are only 16 chess pieces from each side, with each piece has its own distinct
power, ranking and way to move. The end game is to subdue your opponent by
capturing his king. Sometimes in the process to capture your opponents king you
will not hesitate to eliminate all his pieces. So chess is a very aggressive game of
merciless killing, unlike the harmony weiqi game of dynamic balance and sharing.
As current international events revealed, the peaceful strategical and tactical
thinking used by China is more in accordance with weiqi thoughts. They are
flexibility (no ideology), mutual economic win-win development (inclusivity) and
infrastructure connectivity building. In a previous paper I announced The Coming
of 21st Century New Silk Road Globalization as following:
America initiated the 20th Century world trade globalization. But the 2008 world
financial crisis caused by the U.S. toxic asset collapse and its worldwide devastating
spread signaled the end of the good days of world trade globalization of the 20th
Century. Seven years later world major economies in the world still mired in great
recession with the exception of China. The whole world is looking for new economic
or technology breakthrough to bail the world economy out of its quagmire.
The coming 21st Century New Silk Road Globalization in short is the Great
Infrastructure Revolution bring on by Chinas Belt and Road initiative in2013, the
second Globalization as a result of world connectivity of the infrastructure revolution
and the 21st Century Transportation Revolution brought about also by world
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connectivity. All these economic and technology breakthroughs will be described in

more detail below.
As if God send, Xi Jinping, the Chinese president, in 2013 got the inspiration to
announce the modernization of the ancient Silk Road. This is the Silk Road
Economic Belt and 21st Century Ocean Silk Road Initiative or the Belt and Road
initiative in short. The initiative is to launch modern transportation and
communication infrastructure to connect Asia through Central Asia to Europe and
from South East Asia through ocean to Middle East and finally Africa. More details of
the Belt and Road initiative will be revealed in more detail in the following Belt
and Road Action Plan This vast Belt and Road initiative will thus greatly advance
Commerce, communication, cultural and technology exchange, people and people
contact all over the world to benefit human progress in the brave 21st century era.
The resulting world connectivity will bring trade globalization to another height far
exceeding the 20th century because this time the connectivity expands to a far
greater world. This time we may experience true worldwide harmony of a multipolar
world, mutual development and prosperity like no other time in history before.
In another previous paper under the heading New 'Silk Road' Globalization could
alter global economics I sated as follows:
March 31, 2015 is an historic moment. China successfully launched the Asian
Infrastructure Bank to fund the New Silk Road Initiative to provide connectivity for
the world. By now all U.S. allies have all broke from their military alliance with
America and join the peaceful mutual development initiative. The only redeeming
grace for America is to join as observer country at a later day. It is natural for China
to launch the New Silk Road Initiative for all historical, technological, financial
capable and infrastructure building experience reasons. China in the last 39 years
has built 20 trillion dollars of infrastructure in her own country. This super scale of
construction in such a short time has no historical precedence!
All silk roads completed will eventually all connect to China like ancient days. In
rejuvenation, she will be truly, the Middle Kingdom like her name implies! This time
China will lead the Second Commercial Globalization, which will grow to be much
larger than the first globalization led by the U.S. in the 20th century. America will
remain the dominant military power but not the largest economic power in 21st
century. Which means America can no longer behave in her hegemony way
dominating the world as in the 20th century. India will replace China as the world
factory with her biggest population and technology capability. With her middle class
growing to the biggest of the world because of Silk Road connectivity prosperity
China will be the market of the world and lead the world globalization. With all
developing countries rise, the mutual development will benefit all humankind with
the resulting people connectivity, prosperity and cultural equal exchange the world
may reach true equality and harmony. This world harmony world with mutual

respect and equality will be a great improvement compared to the 20th century
world dominated by American hegemony.
In contrast to Chinas weiqi moves as described above, the military strategic and
tactical thinking used by America is more in accordance of chess game of
aggression and war. These moves are typically in contrast to weiqi moves such as
Americas rule making and ideology promotion (infexibility), Americas economic
sanctions (exclusivity) instead of Chinas win-win mutual economic development,
Americas military alliance and base building (intrusive interference) in contrast to
Chinas inclusive infrastructure connectivity building as the New Silk Road initiative.
There is no lack of actual example of above moves launched by America around the
world in the essential 21st century weiqi game as it plays out. They are the current
Americas economic sanction of Russia on top of the half a century of senseless
Cuban sanction. Obamas pivot to Asia Initiative is proven to be nothing more
than reaffirming Americas military alliance and bases in Asia. Obamas signature
Transpacific Partnership (TPP) trade bill that he tries to steamroll is all about rule
making by America to contain China. Judging by Chinas phenomenal economic rise
from an under developed country to worlds second economic power in the short
span of three decades it is not hard to see that all the previous rulemaking such as
World Trade Organization, International Monetary Fund and World Bank by America
failed to stop Chinas rise. China managed to work through all the American rules
and obstacles simply by being flexible as a good weiqi player. One cannot help now
but ask how is another set of TPP rules going to stop China from continuing to
develop. In promoting his TPP trade bill Obama has made two speeches that in
order for America to win it must write the rules to prevent China from writing the
rules. This is totally pointless argument to support his TPP (IN Chinese TPP happens
to sound like kick ass, and TIPP sounds like kick my own ass). As China
development of the last three decades shown America made rules cannot contain
China because of her flexibility we cannot stop China from writing their own rules.
This is amply demonstrated by Chinas successful launching of the New Silk Road
Initiative and the Asian Infrastructure Bank (AIIB) despite America obstruction as
described above.
The obvious outcome of this great weiqi game of dynamic balance belongs to China
who plays by the weiqi instead of chess thought process. China will outlast
Americas military expansion because mutual development will have more
sustaining power. This will validate Laotzes ancient philosophy that the soft will
eventually overcome the hard like water will erode the rock in time. The day of
World Harmony by multipolar dynamic balance away from American hegemony
will surely come. From 5000 years of continuous wisdom, China is confident that
hegemons do not last indefinitely. Sooner or later the world will rise up against it
when challenged by another world power of more legitimacy.
As stated in the opening of this essay and I importantly repeat: The objective of
weiqi game is to reach territory dynamic balance (harmony) between the two
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players through a series of encirclement and counter encirclement moves. The

player declared to have the upper hand between equal players sometimes is only
ahead by one or two squares. It is called the Harmony Game of sharing by the
most famous Chinese weiqi Saint Wu Chingyuan, because the end game is for
both players to accept the dynamic balanced state with only one or two occupied
differences in squares. I proclaim humbly despite all the American aggressive
moves, the ultimate end game of the 21st century weiqi game between China and
America is for both great nations to accept a dynamic balance of sharing the world
stage. That will finally bring in the true multipolar world of World Harmony
without American hegemony as I predicted earlier in this and many of my previous
World Harmony essays! May the best of harmony to all!
Francis C W Fung, Ph.D.
Director General
World Harmony Organization, San Francisco, CA