Traditional Game Marks New Era of Cultural Exchange 圍棋比賽開啟文化交流新紀(jì)元

馮明輝（音） 譯/范婕

“Go is like a mirror， if you allow yourself to look into it. You should accept all of your mistakes and realize how flawed your plans are and how inconsistent your ideas are， maybe see ideas you didn’t even know. In daily life， you don’t have that，” describes Timo Schreiber， Vice Chair of Berlin Go Association during an interview with China Daily Website at China Cultural Center in Berlin.

Go is a board game for two players that demands strenuous， abstract and logical strategies. To win， the players must use black and white playing pieces， called stones， to surround more territory than the opponent on a checkered board. The game was invented in China more than 2，500 years ago and enjoys a wide fan base， mostly in East Asia， but it is becoming more prevalent in other areas of the world. Andreas Urban， chair of Berlin Go Association， estimated that there are roughly 2，500 regular players in Germany.

Schreiber was introduced to the game 16 years ago by a classmate， but thought the game rather mediocre and boring at first. “That is the problem when you teach new players，” he said. “At first they cannot see that it’s a very interesting game. At the beginning you cannot understand.”

Similarly， Urban accidentally discovered a book on Go on his mother’s bookshelf when he was 37 years old. “I tried to understand the rules because I love board games and I did not get it，” added Urban.

But both found the game more and more intriguing after practice. The rules are rather simple， and the battlefield is clearly laid before the player’s eyes， but the game is so much more than just moving stones around the board.

“It is certainly an established form of art. In ancient Chinese history it is already one of the four traditional fine arts， along with playing guqin， writing and painting. It is also nicknamed ‘hand talk’ in Korea. They say it’s like speaking to another but with your hands. If you play against somebody who’s very experienced， it’s like you talk to each other except you cannot tell any lies or be unclear. You make a very direct message. It’s very interesting to play on the Go board， something I’ve never seen in any other game，” explained Schreiber.

And it is this straight-forwardness， elegance and need to think logically that Schreiber believes could be beneficial for children. “I recommend children to learn Go. They learn that there is always someone stronger， which is okay， and they learn that it’s okay to lose. They learn how to improve from their mistakes and say tomorrow will be better than today，” he explained.

To the experienced players， Go carries not just significance in leisure， but also a much more philosophical meaning on a deeper cultural ground. When two players meet on the Go board， they are restricted by the same rules， faced with the same game， but carry completely different tactics. One of the best ways to improve is to play against someone who’s stronger， as well as from different backgrounds. A game of Go takes a lot of time and effort to understand the opponent’s ideas. To Schreiber， cross-cultural communication and Go share that at their roots.

“Many are too quick to judge other people’s cultures. A proverb says， ‘Tell me， I’ll forget; Show me， I may remember; Involve me， and I will understand.’ With Go， you only get stronger if you play against different players. With culture， you need to go and talk to people， even better if in their language. If you can’t， maybe it’s enough to use the Go board as the language.”

As cooperation between China and Germany deepens in many aspects of life， including art and culture， efforts have also been made to further popularize Go in Europe. The European Go Congress has been hosting annual tournaments since 1983. The Berlin Go Association has worked together with the China Cultural Center in Berlin to host The China Cup， an international Go tournament which sees roughly 50 to 100 players a year. The tournament has helped to develop the Go scene in Europe for 10 years.

Training courses are also offered， and the duo sometimes invite professional players from China to deliver lectures for game lovers in Europe. A Grand Slam Tournament chooses professional players， who are in turn acknowledged by the Chinese Go Association， and offers them chances to study the skills of the game in China.

To give players on both sides a chance to try their hands at one another， Urban believes China and Germany could both do their parts.

“You have so many players， especially very young pupils， I heard about 2 million. Here we have more adult players. Maybe we could learn from each other; maybe Chinese could also get more adult players，” he said.

“仔細(xì)看一看，下圍棋就好像是在照鏡子，你得接受自己所有的失誤，會(huì)意識(shí)到自己的計(jì)劃存在漏洞，所思所想缺乏連貫性，或許還會(huì)有新發(fā)現(xiàn)，讓你茅塞頓開。你在日常生活中不會(huì)有這樣的體驗(yàn)。”蒂默·施賴伯是柏林圍棋協(xié)會(huì)的副會(huì)長(zhǎng)，他在位于柏林的中國(guó)文化中心接受中國(guó)日?qǐng)?bào)網(wǎng)的采訪時(shí)做了以上這段描述。

圍棋是一種由兩位棋手參與的棋類競(jìng)技比賽，講究用抽象思維和邏輯思維制定精妙的計(jì)策。有黑白兩色棋子，一位棋手執(zhí)一色，落子包圍對(duì)方棋子，在格子棋盤上占領(lǐng)較多區(qū)域的一方為勝。圍棋2500多年前誕生于中國(guó)，主要流行于東亞，廣受人們的喜愛，而如今，世界其他地區(qū)也有越來越多的人愛上了圍棋。據(jù)柏林圍棋協(xié)會(huì)會(huì)長(zhǎng)安德烈亞斯·烏爾班的估計(jì)，德國(guó)大約有2500位經(jīng)常下圍棋的棋手。

施賴伯是16年前經(jīng)一位同學(xué)的引介接觸到圍棋的，起初他覺得這種棋很一般，沒什么意思。“這是教新手時(shí)常遇到的問題，剛開始他們體會(huì)不到圍棋的樂趣，無法理解其中的奧妙。”施賴伯說道。

烏爾班也有相似的經(jīng)歷。37歲時(shí)，他在母親的書架上偶然發(fā)現(xiàn)一本關(guān)于圍棋的書。烏爾班補(bǔ)充說：“我喜歡棋類游戲，想去弄明白圍棋的下法，但當(dāng)時(shí)卻是一頭霧水。”

然而，兩人都是經(jīng)過練習(xí)后越發(fā)覺得圍棋妙趣橫生。圍棋的規(guī)則非常簡(jiǎn)單，兩位棋手在面前的棋盤上展開對(duì)弈，而整個(gè)過程絕不僅僅是動(dòng)動(dòng)棋子。

施賴伯解釋道：“圍棋絕對(duì)是一種精妙的技藝，在中國(guó)古代，它就與古琴、書法和繪畫并稱為‘文人四藝’。在韓國(guó)，圍棋還被謔稱為‘手談’，人們覺得下圍棋好比交談，只是不用嘴，而是用手。與經(jīng)驗(yàn)豐富的棋手下棋，就好像在和他談話，只是不能說謊，也不能含糊其辭，信息的傳達(dá)非常直接。下圍棋的整個(gè)過程真是非常有趣，在任何其他比賽中，我都不曾有過這種感受。”

圍棋讓人變得真誠(chéng)坦率、氣質(zhì)優(yōu)雅，學(xué)會(huì)用邏輯思維去思考問題，施賴伯認(rèn)為這些特質(zhì)對(duì)孩子們都是有所裨益的。他解釋說：“我建議孩子們?nèi)W(xué)學(xué)下圍棋。他們會(huì)明白總有比自己更棒的人，不必為此耿耿于懷，學(xué)會(huì)坦然面對(duì)失敗;他們將學(xué)會(huì)從自己的錯(cuò)誤中吸取經(jīng)驗(yàn)教訓(xùn)，取得進(jìn)步，告訴自己‘明天會(huì)更好’。”

對(duì)于有經(jīng)驗(yàn)的棋手來說，圍棋不僅是能提高個(gè)人修養(yǎng)的休閑活動(dòng)，在更深的文化層面，它還有非常豐富的哲學(xué)意義。兩位棋手下棋時(shí)，受相同規(guī)則的約束，面對(duì)相同的棋局，但所采取的戰(zhàn)術(shù)卻完全不同。讓技術(shù)提高的最佳方法之一就是和比自己棋藝更精以及有著不同背景的人進(jìn)行比拼。下一局棋，需要消耗大量的時(shí)間與精力去搞清楚對(duì)手的心思，施賴伯認(rèn)為跨文化交流歸根到底也是這么一個(gè)過程。

“很多人常常對(duì)異國(guó)文化太快做出評(píng)判。俗話說：‘耳聞之，易忘卻;目睹之，或可記;參與之，知其詳而無惑。’要想讓自己的圍棋棋藝變得更精湛，就得和不同的對(duì)手展開對(duì)弈;要想了解異國(guó)文化，就得去和當(dāng)?shù)厝私涣鳎绻麜?huì)說他們的語(yǔ)言更好，要是不會(huì)說，那就來下下圍棋吧，或許它足以充當(dāng)溝通交流的媒介。”

隨著中德兩國(guó)在包括藝術(shù)與文化在內(nèi)的多方面合作持續(xù)深化，進(jìn)一步在歐洲推廣圍棋的工作也已經(jīng)開展。自1983年以來，歐洲圍棋大會(huì)每年都會(huì)舉辦錦標(biāo)賽。由柏林圍棋協(xié)會(huì)和柏林中國(guó)文化中心聯(lián)合舉辦的“中國(guó)杯”國(guó)際圍棋錦標(biāo)賽每年大約有50至100名棋手參加，10年來，幫助促進(jìn)了歐洲圍棋文化事業(yè)的發(fā)展。

同時(shí)，還開設(shè)了不少圍棋課程，柏林圍棋協(xié)會(huì)和柏林中國(guó)文化中心時(shí)而會(huì)從中國(guó)邀請(qǐng)職業(yè)棋手去為歐洲的圍棋愛好者們授課。歐洲圍棋大滿貫賽選拔出的專業(yè)棋手也會(huì)得到中國(guó)圍棋協(xié)會(huì)的認(rèn)可，并有機(jī)會(huì)到中國(guó)研修棋藝。

烏爾班認(rèn)為，為了讓兩國(guó)棋手有機(jī)會(huì)相互切磋棋藝，中德兩國(guó)都有各自的工作可做。

他說：“中國(guó)有那么多棋手，尤其還有一些年齡很小的學(xué)員，我聽說有200萬人左右;而德國(guó)的棋手大多是成年人。或許兩國(guó)的棋手可以相互學(xué)習(xí)，或許中國(guó)可以讓更多的成年人參與到圍棋競(jìng)技中來。”