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Bill (Jiuxu Song)

Professor Marie Webb

Linguistics 12: Section 500

15 January 2019

Lessons from the Game of Go

One day on winter holiday, I was trying to clear up the loft of my home in China when I

found out an old magazine full of dust. I wiped it carefully and opened it up. It was a Weiqi

manual with the records of some important chess games at that time. Silently, I gazed at the

special and somehow familiar figures on it and tried to recall my old memories about this

special game. How long have I been away from the chessboard? I asked myself. I gave up

this interest in middle school due to the heavy workload, but before that, I had learned and

played it for six years. The game of Go had accompanied me ever since I was a little boy, and

it filled in every corner of my childhood memory. It was not simply a game for relaxation;

instead, it taught me a lot as I grew up, especially about Chinese cultural values.

My story about the game of Go started under the teaching of my father, who was my first

teacher. It was a bright Sunday morning. The wave of sunshine floated and warmed me as I

played around my father’s desk. Then, a glazed yellow wooden board attracted by attention.

There were some small peddles in black and white put on the board, and they together formed

a complex and unique pattern, like two snakes tangled with each other. I looked up my father

and blinked my eyes curiously. He smiled and gently stroked my head. “It is not simple

puddle- it is called a piece in the game of Go”. He picked up a black piece and held it in front

of my eyes. I touched and then grabbed this small black stone with my small hand and
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glanced at for a while. Then, I held it tightly with my figures and tried my best to drop it on

the board to mimic what my father usually did, with a crackling sound. At that moment, my

six-year journey with the game of Go officially began.

From the first lesson in the children chess club, I learned that the game of Go was a

competition between two players holding black and white pieces separately, and the aim was

to control more territory on the board than the opponent. With this simple rule came

innumerable variations; to experience the various tactics of this game, I was asked to play it

again and again by my teacher. In a small classroom, there were thirty kids, fifteen sets of

chessboards, and fifteen ongoing battles. Blazing sunlight on a summer day baked the small

room, and the noisy cicadas chanted the same tune over and over again. Yet nobody seemed

to be attracted by the scenery and sound outside the window- we all concentrated on our

games. What I only heard was the continuous cracking sound that a piece made when hitting

the wooden board, which signified the silent and intense battles. I contemplated my

chessboard. It was in a stalemate that our arrays collided at the center and led to a vital duel.

In a few moves the outcome of the game would be determined. I clenched my fists and tried

to calm down. What would my father say in such dreadful situation? I searched my

memories. He would say “do not think of failure or giving up when facing a challenge.

Moving on is not a choice to make, but an action to take.” I took a deep breath and calculated

the next few steps carefully. Then I picked up a piece with my two fingers and put it steadily

on the board, returning to calmness.

The game was soon over: I killed his center pieces and won the game by just one move

ahead. I cried and jumped in excitement. On my way home, I proudly told my father this
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exciting victory, and he smiled and nodded with praise. Practicing and playing the game of

Go for several times, I gradually understood that although such game seemed to be peaceful,

it heavily relied on mental strengths, which were the wisdom to solve complex situations, the

courage to face challenges, and the perseverance of never giving up fighting even in

adversity. Such strengths could be used not only to defeat my opponent but also to overcome

difficulties in my journey of learning, since learning itself is a battle, I later concluded as I

went to primary school. Also, I could never forget, after that tiny triumph, my father once

reminded me tenderly: “Don’t be too proud of yourself. It is just the beginning.”

The pleasure of victory didn’t last for a long time; I soon realized the meaning of my

father’s reminder. It was an evening in late autumn. I sat still in an empty room and dropped

my head on the cold chessboard. The class had already been over, and lights had been turned

off so that the whole room sank into complete darkness and silence. I tried to keep myself

from crying as the feeling of sadness and pain contaminated my heart and veins. It was the

third time I was defeated by the same person, although I had practiced so hard. In that game, I

hold my ground steadily and did not retreat a little, but it was still a failure.

Then someone opened the door, and I realized it was my father. He grabbed a chair and

sat beside me as I told him all about this tragic failure. He listened to me quietly for half an

hour until I finished speaking. After that, he silently started to restore the last game I had just

lost. He pointed at the chessboard and said “I know that you have tried to be perfect. You

battled with him carefully and made few mistakes. I will never be disappointed to you, and

especially you have fought so hard.” He paused for a while and continued “but sometimes, if

you cannot succeed through one way, you may try the other one.” He moved his finger and
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pointed to the right side of the chessboard as I looked up at his face: “Look, though you did

not leave him any chance in the center, he gradually weakened your defense and took

advantage at the right side. That’s how he won the game. Remember, there’s such a large

space on the chessboard. You have to consider the overall benefit at the first place.”

Being still somehow confused, I nodded and replayed the game by paying more attention

to other parts of the gameboard. Then immediately, I found out the result was much better,

and my hope of victory was rekindled. I alone played it over and over again, using all kinds

of strategists I had learned. I started to understand what my father’s word meant. To reach

triumph, the ultimate goal of the game, the overall situation is what a player should concern.

A partial compromise or even sacrifice can be made, as long as it contributes to the final

success. Also, being tough is not necessarily the best strategy in a game; sometimes, being

flexible can be more powerful. I swore to myself that after acquiring such essential

knowledge, I would not fail again. Surprisingly, I once learned from Chinese class that the

strength of the flexibility that I discovered through replaying the game had already been

mentioned two thousand years ago, by a Chinese Taoist philosopher named Laozi. Also, later

on, the lesson about the overall concern has helped me accomplished innumerable tasks in

learning as I grew up.

Playing the game of Go for years, my father started to teach me a few more lessons after

regular training, which are knowledge beyond the chessboard. Amazingly, I realized the

relationship between the game and my native culture. He told me the 361 cross points on the

board to make moves symbolized 365 days in a year. The four corners of the game board, the

basis for player’s further development, symbolized the four seasons in a year. In Chinese
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traditional view to the world, the sky and stars were round, and the earth was a flat square, so

the round pieces were just like the stars on the sky, while the square chessboard represented

the earth. The black and white colors of the pieces tokened the idea of Yin and Yang, the two

opposite elements in nature according to the belief of ancient Chinese. Based on such theory,

these two elements were in continuous battles with each other, and they finally reached an

equilibrium and created the whole colorful world. The game of Go was not merely a game on

a piece of wood, I exclaimed. It was a whole universe.

Tracing back to thousands of years ago when this special game was firstly invented, the

ancient people have put what they believed and what they valued into the game, including

perseverance, courage, the pursuit of victory and wisdom, as well as some traditional beliefs.

Till now, thousands of years have passed, I can still somehow have the same feelings and

understandings about this game with my far-away ancestors. The charm of the game never

dies, since all those cultural values have become part of it. Similarly, for me, I have played

the game of Go in my entire childhood. Although I have been away from the chessboard for

many years, I can still come up with my old feelings and understandings about it as I tried to

recall my memories. What I learned from it has made me who I am, and I believe the game of

Go will forever accompany me in not only my journey of learning but also my journey of life

in the future.
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January 25, 2019

Bill Song
3519 Phelps Hall
Isla Vista, CA 93117

Dear Mr. Song:

Since you have just finished writing your narrative essay about your experience of playing the
game of Go, you must remember the lessons you learned from the experience. Over the years,
you have learned several essential Chinese cultural values, including perseverance, courage,
the pursuit of victory and wisdom, as well as some traditional beliefs through the wooden
chessboard. These values did have a great influence on you during your school life. Yet, the
end of one thing is always a beginning of another. After graduating from high school, you
crossed the ocean to go to university. Therefore, you started a brand-new journey of learning.
In such new environment, there are more challenges that you have to face, and you have to
fight alone without the help and guidance from your parents. To reach literacy and academic
success in these four years, you shall have not only strong determination but also wise strategies
for both study and daily life. To be specific, you should try to increase your study efficiency
and read more books in your spare time.

First of all, you should always be aware of your study efficiency and try to improve it in the
next four years. Hope Jahren emphasizes in her novel Lab Girl that trees need to try their best
to gather sunlight and water in order to reach higher (77). In the same way, you also need to
put your effort and hard work in every class you take to succeed in college life. Simply spending
more time will not lead to a satisfactory result, so promoting study efficiency becomes a wise
choice. In order to achieve this goal, the first point is to keep concentrating on your work and
get rid of interruption during study time. Nowadays, the Internet and cellphones have become
not only great tools of entertainment but also huge disturbances to studying. Plus, as students
get tired of their assignments, a comfortable bed beside them also becomes a temptation. To
avoid these two major disturbances, you may choose to study in a place away from bed, and
you are supposed to put your cellphone away while studying. For instance, the university
library is naturally designed for self-study, and sitting in a chair can definitely help you get rid
of sleepiness since you are away from your comfortable dorm.

In addition, choosing a place you like to study can also increase your efficiency, and that further
makes the school library a good choice. Hope Jahren states that she has a sense of belonging
in her father’s lab where she is able to freely explore different kinds of lab equipment (17).
Similarly, you enjoy the quiet and peaceful environment of a library and have a feeling as a
learner while you study here, so I believe studying in such a pleasant environment can be truly
helpful. Another point to be noticed is that to keep a high efficiency, you’d better sometimes
have a rest between hours of study. Since your concentration cannot last for a very long time,
dividing tasks into several parts and solve them separately can be a wise strategy, rather than
taking a protracted tactic. By following these three suggestions mentioned above, your study
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efficiency will be thus promoted.

Moreover, you need to read more books to enrich yourself in your free time. College of course
is a great place to study and to be ready for your future career. Yet learning is not restricted in
lecture halls; instead, any single book on the shelf can teach you something new. As you
remember the famous philosopher and revolutionist Karl Marx eagerly shouts to his students
“To learn! To learn!” in “the magnificent reading room of the British Museum with its
inexhaustible treasures of books”, you should also follow his encouragement in your college
career (Liebknecht). The first benefit of this plan is simply the pleasure of reading. As you are
frequently pushed to read those assigned materials, this time you are able to freely explore and
ocean of knowledge by picking whatever you like to read. It is an entertaining activity for your
spare time, especially after tedious schoolwork. For instance, you enjoy reading detective
novels, histories, and biographies, which are all great choices for you. Of course, the major
benefit of reading is still the enrichment of knowledge. Unlike those short passages on social
media which only provide you fragment of informal information, books always provide readers
integrated and continuous information. Such knowledge can be accumulated and gradually
broaden people’s horizon and deepen their understanding about the world. By reading different
kinds of books, you are also able to explore different fields without actually taking any lectures.
Only focusing on your textbook is not enough, you have to learn more through reading and
become more knowledgeable and powerful to face the challenges in the future.

As seen in the discussion above, I would recommend you to improve your efficiency of study
and try to read more books outside of class materials to enrich yourself. These two learning
strategies are both relatively easy to reach: all you need to do is just to stick on your homework
and borrow a seemingly interesting book from the school library. The beginning is indeed easy;
however, are you capable of carrying on these two plans to the end of the journey of your four-
year college life? I think that will probably be a great challenge to your determination and
persistency, which were both taught from the lessons of the game of Go in your childhood.
Your journey of college has just begun, and now is not too late as the starting point of your
actions. Now, please start studying in the library concentratedly and reading Goethe’s Faust,
the great literary work you are longing to read, as a break from your homework. I hope you
will succeed in the next four years.

Sincerely,

Jiuxu Song
5221 Cheadle Hall
Santa Barbara, CA 93106
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Works Cited:

Jahren, Hope. Lab Girl. New York: Vintage Books, 2016.

Liebknecht, Wilhelm. Karl Marx: Biographical memoirs. London: Journeyman Press, 1975.