Book excerpt: Learn the ancient and fascinating game of Chinese Chess with this expert guide. Chinese chess, or "elephant chess," has intrigued the powerful and the quizzical for centuries. Although its rules are similar to the well-known Western game, subtle and fascinating variations must be mastered in order to understand the strategies it requires. A great way to learn Chinese Chess, this book is simple enough for Chess beginners but contains a wealth of information and tips that experienced players will find useful as well. In Chinese Chess, author H.T. Lau explains the game's fundamentals--the rules, the board, and the basics with dozens of insightful diagrams. With the aid of 170 diagrams, Chinese Chess walks players through the board, the movement and values of the pieces, basic rules for capturing and defeating an opponent, techniques and game-winning tactics. Once he's covered the basics, Lau introduces advanced tactics, methods for escaping difficult positions, and cunning strategies for winning. This book includes eighty mid- and end-game exercises designed to sharpen playing skills and strategy and concludes with two appendices devoted to the elegantly constructed games found in The Secret Inside the Orange and The Plum-Blossom Meter, two classic seventeenth-century works on Chinese chess.