HUANG LONGSHI, also known as Huang Yuetian, was a go champion in the Kangxi period (1662-1723) of the Qing dynasty in China. He was also one of the most accomplished and praised go champions of all time.
Xu Xingyou, the guoshou (national champion) of the following age, described his skill thus in his "Jianshan-tang Yipu": "He could add fibre and substance to the light and flimsy, he could add consummate elegance onto the bare skeleton of shapes, and so he could encompass others while they could not encompass him. It was as if the range of his abilities was as vast as the sky and there was nothing he could not do. In one breath his clear understanding gives rise to branches and gives rise to leaves, and his opponents to do no other but submit. If they neglect aught, he pounces from on high, ne'er soiled by even a speck of dust. He has attained an artistic level of the order of the Mahayana at the limits of cleverness and brilliance."
Lu Shuling, a go-loving scholar and collector of old go books in late Qing, praised him as being like "the army in Huaiyin [northern Jiangsu] who fought and were naught but victorious." [This refers to Han Xin who was made Marquis of Huaiyin in the Three Kingdoms era after winning successive victories].
Wang Yandong praised him by saying, "At the start of the [Qing] dynasty, after Guo Bailing, a crowd of worthy and splendid players who were famous for playing go arose. They vied with each other for supremacy, but Huang Longshi emerged above all of them with his marvellous skill and moves."
The scholar Li Ruzhen (1763-c.1830) extolled him thus: "When Huang Yuetian emerged, he indulged in the wildest fancies and broke new ground; he exercised skill with all his mind and finally opened the way for the age to flourish."
The famous book collector and publisher Deng Yuanhui, who published Huang's collected games in 1887, praised him thus: "Longshi used his mind most meticulously. He sought to enter the deepest apertures. When it became a critical matter of life and death, and while the crowd were already helpless and at their wits' end, he was expertly exerting a subtle influence, and seeing more and more skilfull ideas and magical effects; the air would suddenly change... and from death he would re-enter life." He also said, "Longshi is like a heavenly spirit turned human. He is absolutely not of this world."
Huang's contemporaries went so far as to rank him with Hong Zongxi and Gu Yanwu as one of the "Fourteen Sages" and so regarded him as a modern Go Sage.
After this, it perhaps comes as something of an anti-climax to hear that Go Seigen ranked him "at least at the level of Dosaku" - unless, of course, you know that many Japanese regard Honinbo Dosaku (1645-1702) as the greatest player ever.
Yet Huang is barely known in Japan, and therefore the West. The prevailing opinion took its tone from the great Meijin Inoue Inseki in his famous book "Hatsuyoron." He said the Chinese players were markedly inferior to the Japanese of the time. And since the Ryukyuan Yonaha Satonoshi, who visited Japan and played Dosaku but also visited China, reckoned their top players were senaisen (i.e had to take a handicap) to the top Japanese, there was some basis for this attitude.
But Hayashi Genbi, in his "Gokyo Seimyo", struck a more objective note when he said: "Huang Yuetian and Xu Xingyou are known as recent champions of the Qing era. In my opinion, for Yuetian this must be so, but for Xingyou, judging by the games given in this book (Seimyo) he is far behind."
In the more concrete terms of today's language, one of the main elements that distinguishes Huang is his contribution to go theory: he was the first to appreciate the value of amarigatachi (forcing the opponent into inefficient, "muscle-bound" shape) and of achieving territory while attacking. He had a unique go style. He played moves that looked plain and clear, without artifice, but implied in them great depth. His opponents found them difficult to fathom. If they dared to use brute force, he would adapt to the changing circumstances and defeat his opponents by a surprise move. Or he would latch on to their weak points, and confront them with their own difficulties.
Huang Longshi's personal names were Qiu (young dragon) then Xia. His courtesy name was Yuetian. He was from Jiangsu province. According to the Jianshan-tang Yipu and Bian Ya Tang Wenji he was born in Shunzhi 8 in the Qing era [1651], or perhaps Shunzhi 11 (1654). He died in his 40s, but the year of his death is not known.
Huang's family seat was Jiangyan, a few miles from Taixian. His was a poor family of manual workers, and his studies were negligible. But he studied go and soon there was no-one to match him in his home town. This gave his family the opportunity to earn money from his go playing. As we shall see later, he was probably in high company in the far north at this point.
Tradition has it that, about this time, a prince was playing go with a guest and the position reached a critical juncture. He sank into thought for a good while, finding it difficult to play. Huang and other attendants were at his side, until darkness came. Eventually the prince averted the danger and settled himself, which allowed him to win. The prince was surprised at himself and asked Huang about it. Huang replied, "For a long time I have served as go player at your side. You have constantly observed the games of good players and now finally you have had your enlightenment." This made the prince happy, and he offered Huang the go books in his storehouse for deeper study.
At 16 he had already reached the level of guoshou. He had a match with Sheng Dayou who had long enjoyed a high reputation as one of the older generation of champions (he was then 80). Huang won a dashing victory of 7 games and 7 wins. All at once he overcame many famous players, without exception, and the go world gave him the greatest esteem.
Everyone referred to him not by his name but as Longshi - the Prodigy. The formal record of this in the literature is a preface "Seeing off Huang the Prodigy" by Du Jun (= Du Ganhuang). The original text is as follows:
"Huang Qiu, the Prodigy, of Taizhou was known for being good at go at the age of 11. When he played go he excelled as of the first rank [i.e. two stones to a guoshou]. In the cyclic year Jiachen [1664] I visited Jiangdu and the Prodigy's father brought the boy to have an audience with me. He was wearing a black pongee silk short robe but was a mere toddler. Seeing this, I laughed. They left but five years later I was on a visit to Taixing when Huang's father again came to have an audience with me.
"By then the boy had already grown up and when I spoke to him I was pleased to find he was very bright. I asked him about his go, at which he already clearly excelled. When I asked his intentions, it was as if he wanted to be close to me. I found this very strange.
"When we were seated, his father explained to me. After they had left [on the previous occasion], he had taken Huang north to Beijing and, using his skill at go as an excuse, sought an audience with famous prince-generals. A certain general loved Huang and treated him kindly, giving him money and clothes and setting him up in a felt yurt with koumiss to drink every day. After living there for a year, Huang thought of his mother and wanted to return south. The general could not bear to say no and allowed this, but politely asked him to come back the following spring, which is how much he loved him."
The references to princes, generals, Mongolia and yurts form a consistent pattern. The noble Manchu families of the new Qing dynasty were keen to acquire the civilising gloss of Chinese culture. Many of them loved go, and so it is obvious they would welcome go masters. We know, for example, that in the Qianlong era there was a man called the Tolo, prince Shen, who was friendly with the famous players Mao Xiangzhou and Li Buqing.
The reference to Huang's age in Du Ganhuang's preface is also valuable. He says Huang was 11 in the cyclic year jiachen (of Kangxi) and five years later was 16 (year gengshen). Working back from this, he was born in the year guisi [30th year of the cycle] of the reign-era Shunzhi, which is the western year 1653. However, according to Xu Xingyou's Jianshan-tang Yipu, Huang was 18 in the year wushen [45th year of the cycle] and The Collected Games of Master Huang also has this as wushen [1668] when he played a game with Sheng Dayou. On this basis the estimated date of his birth would be 1651. There are complicating factors to do with the Oriental method of counting ages, of course, and so we cannot make too much of this.
In the Kangxi period when Huang found his greatest fame, the situation inside China had stabilised, and go flourished. Yet Huang had few rivals. Only Zhou Donghou could match him, and though Zhou lost repeatedly he was always bringing forth new ideas. In the "30 games in Paradise Garden" they played, of which 25 are extant, Huang played first in 10 and won 8, while Zhou played first in 15 and Huang won 10, the rest being very close.
In his last years he was a house guest of Xu Xingyou, and when they first played together Xu was certainly no match for him. If once in a while Xu won a game he would repeatedly brag about it to his guests. On one occasion Huang said to Xu candidly that with his skill at go he ought to give Xu three stones. They then played the famous three-stone Games of Blood and Tears, which may be considered the masterpieces of Huang's life.
There is a story in the biographies given in the "Ji Qing Xia Guan Yi Xuan" that Xu contrived Huang's death by seducing him with rich wine and beautiful women. At the beginning he could cope but as the days increased it was difficult for him to stay on top and eventually he died of a stroke. After Huang's death there is no record of his leaving a wife or children; he left only his games.
There are good grounds for doubting this story, though it seems he did not pass the age of 40 by much. Lu Shichuan, for one, in "Yi Xuan Yi Hua" found it unconvincing.
Probably apocryphal too is the story from the notes of a Qing master reproduced in Liu Yuji's "Yi Hua." According to these, both Huang (Yuetian) and Xu (Xingyou) became Imperial Household officials in the Palace. Huang was ruggedly honest and was not particular about material things, but Xu often colluded with officials (he was of their class) and knew about Palace affairs in advance. One day he said to Huang, "You are definitely better at go than me and you win a lot. When we next play before the Emperor, could you not lose by just one point to let me make my name?" Huang accepted this without compunction.
The following day the pair were summoned quickly to the Palace. Gao Zong (the Emperor) [r.1736 to 1796 - these dates are a giveaway] pointed to a gold-lacquered box on a table and said, "The winner of this game shall have its contents," and they played in obedience to his wishes but Xu won. Gao Zong sighed and turned to Huang. "Your go is better than his, but how is that your luck is not as good as his?" When he ordered an attendant to open the box, he took from it a document of appointment to a prefectural governorship, which he gave to Xu. Huang looked on in amazement, but since it was too late for regrets he said nothing. Xu bowed and accepted the document. He had heard about it in advance from the attendants and that is why he had spoken to Huang the day before. Huang had thus fallen into his trap.
To get closer to the truth we should observe first that Huang and Xu were in a teacher-pupil relationship. In his Jianshan-tang Yipu, where he does not shrink from scathing comments about other players, Xu is very flattering in what he says about Huang. Moreover, there is no reason why they should fight for fame at court for no players were employed at court in Qing times.
Not least, Gao Zong was the Qianlong emperor. Since Huang died prematurely he would not have met him, and in the first year of Qianlong Xu was nearly 80, and so could hardly have served as an official.
As for games between Huang and his contemporaries, we were first blessed with the Collected Games of Master Huang Longshi published by Deng Yuanhui in 1887. There are 74 games - even games and handicap games - rescued from obscurity at a time when go in China was struggling. Initially Deng found just 61 games and published them. But he later found a handful more and republished his book. His excitement at finding the extra games is evident in his brief notes. Luckily we now have 105 games.
The most spectacular games are those with Zhou Donghou, and the Games of Blood and Tears are the most famous. In the preface to "Shou Zi Pu" (handicap games) by Li Songshi, he says: "The ten games between Huang Longshi and Xu Xingyou are known as the Games of Blood and Tears. At that time Xu was already an ershou [two steps from the top]. Huang therefore kept him down to three stones. In that period, each fully used his mind, was replete with innovations, the like of which had never been seen before. After the games were finished, Xu eventually became a guoshou."
In the book "Yi Kuo" (All About Go) there is a preface by him and here he sums up his experiences of actual play. His views are incisive and and set people thinking. He says this (modifying the language with modern terminology):
"To map out a territory, develop through extensions. Approach danger only from strongholds. Guard what is important. This is the essence of the opening.
"Areas affect each other; sharp swords will always come into contact. If you attack, then a single army alone should come forward; it will be all conquering. If you defend, then with 'one man at the pass, seven heroes will give up.' This is because of the influence of the side and centre on attack and defence. If territory is balanced, then he who obtains thickness is the stronger. If thickness is equal, then he who uses his brain will be victorious. It is important to fight for the initiative. Be unwilling to lag behind - strive to gain the initiative. True and false, and the subtleties of proceeding straight or indirectly, can be distinguished only by the merits of what is given up and what is captured."
Here are some games in sgf format by Huang, all against Zhou Donghou. The first two are extensively commented on the basis of notes by Xu Xingyou. The complete 105 games are available commercially from Games of Go on Disk (tmark@gogod.demon.co.uk).
