The distinction between encircling and occupying a territory, which we discussed above, lies perhaps merely in the words used, but all these discourses on the game are also important in understanding what is at stake. Historically, the Chinese consider the Japanese to be invaders and usurpers. The semantic distinctions do not speak so much of the game as of the dynamics of the competition between the two countries concerned. Weiqi is the ambassador of China. We know that international sports competitions are in fact the site of battle or of the representation of what is called the mental and physical capital of nations. When we use conventional phrases such as "East German swimmers", "Bulgarian bodybuilders", "Chinese runners" or "American skaters", it is because, for a time, these countries are the flag bearers of efficiency, of mastery in these sports, and this prestige reflects on the nation.
This construction of the myths of supremacy can also be seen in non-sports areas: "Jewish musicians", "Russian chess players", etc. The Chinese have had their game, weiqi, usurped by Japanese supremacy for decades, as we have seen. Hence the density of the media coverage which was given to this competition, on a level with that given to Chinese athletes who return victorious from the Olympic Games. One generally imagines that any country which can spread the influence of its athletes and its intellectuals is a stable country... It is in this sense that the integration of weiqi into competition, on an equal footing with other sports, must be understood as an undertaking to put on the market Chinese identity, integrity and efficiency, both nationally and internationally.
Moreover, during the official ceremony in honor of the victory, which was held et the Weiqi Institute on the 29th of May 1996, the President of the Institute, Chen Zude, himself a former national and international champion in the 1960s, expressing his congratulations to the players in these terms:
"the victory being celebrated to day is the fruit of the support and of the importance given by the State and the Party, it is also the fruit of the efforts of generations of players."[48]
With great modesty, Nie Weiping replied:
"We will strive at each competition and seek to become diligent trainers for the next generation of players, in order that, at the heart of our Chinese Institute, the following saying will be illustrated 'The ground swell pushes the front waves of the Yangtse river'".
Since that tournament, the Chinese players have become dominant, and moreover the "next generation", in the opinion of all the specialists, is incredibly fearsome: not only in China, but also particularly in Korea, whose young prodigies seem likely to become the next threat to the Japanese players. This excitement is all the more stimulating for the world of weiqi.
The Apollonian element: wisdom, thought, plastic art
Despite its political significance, the symbolism of weiqi is clear; the game is rooted in history, it is synonymous with beauty, dignity, intelligence, harmony and Chinese civilization. Its practice is a counterweight to the agitation of the world, and it is to weiqi that people in search of wisdom and nobility adhere.
The game is the incarnation of Chineseness, past and present, within and outside China. By its very nature and because each game resembles an artistic creation, the game of weiqi, down through history as well as in its contemporary practice, corresponds to the Apollonian qualities: it brings together the virtues of wisdom, reflexion, and aesthetics which myth attributes to China. But also, as all the players we have met have affirmed to us, weiqi carries the virtues of timelessness and eternity which will ensure its survival.
The creative calm of the players who watch this world coming into existence on the board, through the magic of their dialogue, is what we call Apollonian. It is the expression of a harmony between man and his environment, a harmony which Simon Leys tells us is the "key concept of Chinese civilization":
"Whether it is a question of organizing relations among men, or attuning the individual to the rhythms of the universe, the same preoccupation with harmony animates Confucian wisdom and Taoist mysticism".[49]
The self-denial, the diligence and the intelligence which professional weiqi competitors have to show today, can be compared with the path that the cultivated of the past had to follow. They are indeed the mandarins of a certain kind of Chinese culture, the extinction of which we cannot imagine, despite the increasing influences from abroad and the strong presence of the Dyonisiac in the new Chinese leisure pursuits.
