The story of "A Hundred Years of Chess" begins in 1905, on the eve of the Russo-Japanese War, and begins with a flashback. In the trauma of the defeat of the Sino-Japanese War, the ancient incarnation "Porcelain" dealt with the "Russian" who coveted its territory and had complex and contradictory temperaments, and formed a "friendship" full of calculations. At the same time, the emerging incarnation of "beauty", which is confident and flamboyant, has appeared on the stage of the Far East with the concept of "open door".
The story revolves around fierce games over core interests such as railway concessions and port leasing. China struggled to maintain itself under the "gold-dollar diplomacy" of Russia and the United States, until it reached the bottom during the Battle of the Eight-Power Allied Forces, and also witnessed the sharp conflict between the concepts of the United States and Russia. During the Russo-Japanese War, China suffered under the mask of "neutrality", witnessed the decline of Russia and the rise of the United States, and reorganized the triangular relationship for the first time. Subsequently, World War I broke out, old Russia fell in the revolution, and the new red "Russia" brought a new ideological impact; China suffered betrayal at the Paris Peace Conference and completely awakened.
The story ends in the 1920s. In the new chess games such as the Washington Conference, Chi meditated between the two paths represented by the United States and Russia. Finally, with the new power bred from within, he looked firmly at the unfinished chess game. This is not only a collision of national destiny, but also a profound questioning of friendship, betrayal, ideals and paths in the torrent of history.
Purpose: The novel goes beyond a simple retelling of diplomatic history through the personified narrative of the country's incarnation. Its deeper purpose is to explore: under the irresistible wave of national destiny and historical destiny, the emotions, choices and moral pursuits of individuals (national incarnations) are entangled, contradictory and struggling with the cold national interests. It profoundly reveals the eternal dilemma of "chess players" who are also "chess pieces", asking whether personal emotional sincerity and strategic hypocrisy can truly be distinguished in the grand historical narrative, and how an ancient civilization can find itself amidst humiliation and collision, and find a unique path to rejuvenation.