The above piece is an elephant; its movements are related to those of the bishop in western chess.
I played Chinese chess in Harvard Sq. today, fter miraculously finding a parking space directly opposite Holyoke Center, where those who do not talk about much else, and may not be able to, indulge their obsession with chess.
I put out my Xiangqi board, and immediately a young Chinese-American
woman came over. She didn't know the game but said why not when I offered to
teach her. She didn't know chess either, which made Xiangqi somewhat more
difficult to grasp, since it is chess, though she knew the characters that
define the pieces, so that, at least, was no problem.