Pingyang Tengjiao: From the Geometric Galaxy to the Chu-Han Boundary's Millennial Spirit
Wenmai Pingyang · The Twin Jewels of Tengjiao: The National Elegance of a Mathematical Master and a Centenarian Chess King
Pingyang, an ancient city in southern Zhejiang steeped in a millennium of literary heritage.
Here, culture flourishes and stars shine brightly: Huang Gongwang splashed ink to create the "Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains," Lin Jingxi expressed deep patriotism with his brush, Song Shu pioneered new thoughts with his voice, and the city produced masters like the mathematical titan Su Buqing and the centenarian chess king Xie Xiaxun. As an important birthplace and inheritance site of Nanxi opera, every inch of Pingyang’s land flows with cultural roots; Fengwo Town is engraved with revolutionary passion, while Tengjiao Town carries the light of reason and the spirit of chess. In the spring of March, come to enjoy the season, touch history amid the mountains and waters, and feel life through the cultural lineage.
Su Buqing Former Residence:
Clear streams can serve as belts, slender bamboo as whips;
Leading the resting ox to walk, going to plow the fields below.
This youthful poem by Su Buqing still quietly echoes beneath Woniu Mountain. The former residence of Su Buqing is located at the foot of Qingzhi Mountain in Tengdai Village, Tengjiao Town. This southern Zhejiang residence, built in the late Qing Dynasty, is simple yet profound. The wooden gate in the front courtyard is rustic and elegant, with a plaque inscribed by Comrade Hua Guofeng reading "Su Buqing Former Residence." Inside the courtyard stands a half-body stone statue of Mr. Su Buqing, and three exhibition rooms fully document his academic journey, overseas study, and world-shaking scholarly achievements. A Qing Dynasty ancient well in the backyard witnesses the passage of time; in the front yard, a rare symbiotic tree of banyan embracing loquat tells the story of nature and culture blending. In 2011, this site was listed as a provincial-level cultural relic protection unit in Zhejiang.
Mr. Su Buqing, renowned worldwide for his work on "quartic algebraic cones," is hailed as "the first geometer of the East." He devoted his life to teaching, serving as a professor at Zhejiang University, president of Fudan University, elected academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and vice chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. He personally mentored nearly a thousand top mathematicians including Zhang Sucheng, making immortal contributions to the science and education of New China. In 2019, the International Astronomical Union officially named asteroid 297161 "Su Buqing Star," allowing this mathematical master’s name to shine forever in the vast galaxy.
Chess King Stele Forest:
One town produces twin stars, culture and heritage complement each other. Facing Su Buqing’s former residence across the mountain is the Chess King Stele Forest, commemorating the centenarian chess king Xie Xiaxun.
Xie Xiaxun, a Chinese chess master and pioneer of international chess, spent his life with chess and serving the nation. Born in 1888 in Fengchao, Tengjiao, he learned chess at four, understood principles at six, mastered openings at nine, and dominated at ten. By thirteen, he had drawn even with the Wenzhou chess champion, gaining fame in East Ou. In 1918, he won the national individual chess championship; in 1928, he was honored as "China’s Chess King"; from 1929 to 1931, he won three international chess tournaments, authored over ten chess manuals, and gained renown at home and abroad for his skills.
Even more moving is his patriotic heart expressed through chess. In 1939, Comrade Zhou Enlai visited Xie Xiaxun at the Chongqing Oriental Association. They shared tea and played three games, all ending in draws. Discussing the "Plum Blossom Manual" and the importance of the screen horse, Zhou Enlai said, "The Ming valued the horse, the Qing valued the cannon, but we should value the soldier." Xie Xiaxun replied, "Though the horse is mighty in all directions, soldiers can be used to control the horse." This insight awakened Zhou, who applauded, "Soldiers are the masses; to resist Japan and save the nation, we must mobilize the masses!"
This story of discussing strategy through chess to help the nation was written by Xie Xiaxun in the "Ta Kung Pao" newspaper under the title "Together to Relieve the Nation’s Hardship," becoming a patriotic legend recorded in history.
Today, the Chess King Stele Forest lies quietly on the southern slope of Woniu Mountain, with over sixty celebrity-inscribed steles scattered throughout. The main stele bears an inscription by Comrade Jiang Zemin for Xie Xiaxun’s centennial birthday. The stele forest uses stone as paper and chess as soul, echoing Su Buqing’s former residence, jointly forging Tengjiao’s spirit of "carrying the way with culture, repaying the country with wisdom."
From the geometric galaxy to the Chu-Han boundary, from youthful ambition to national righteousness.
The spring breeze brushes Qingzhi Mountain, and the cultural vein flows with the stream. Strolling through Pingyang Tengjiao, we understand the scholarly dedication of a generation of masters and feel the patriotic spirit of national heroes. The wisdom of history settles here, the spirit of the sages is passed on here, illuminating the path forward for every successor.