Thank you both for these posts and pictures!

_________________
On Go proverbs:
"A fine Gotation is a diamond in the hand of a dan of wit and a pebble in the hand of a kyu" —Joseph Raux misquoted.

Chenyi Cup is arguably the number one amateur tournament in China (and number one period in terms of both overall prize money and prize money for the winner). And its schedule is also unique in that it mimics international pro tournament instead of the usual go congress style amateur tournament. The preliminary stage starts in April with players separated into 4 groups in double elimination format (used to be there was an online qualification stage even before that but stopped in 2018 due to emergence of AI). Top 4 of each group advance to the single elimination main tournament to determine the finalists. The final is best of three held in October.

Due to the time gap between different stages I am pretty sure they have considered the situation like Li Haotong this year. My guess is that amateur status is determined at registration time and Li would still be eligible for the final as amateur.

Great effort to just get Lee Sedol by your side! And to get inside the playing hall! In one photo I see that you were right next to Rui Naiwei sensei, in front of Ke Jie！

Wow I missed this picture that you were sitting opposite of Ke Jie last time!

Chen Yi Cup, surely. Or has he been forgotten already in the new capitalist China?

Of course! Thanks for correcting me John! I did have the feeling that something was not right when I wrote that down. I can quote his poems and know of stories that he was playing Go as the battle was raging on merely hundreds of meters away since I was a teenager so I certainly remember him! And I do not think any Go lover of my generation would ever forget what he did for modern Chinese Go.

By the way I still remember last year you asked about Ge Yuhong. It it just that Ge Yuhong is such a fascinating story I do want to tell it in full and that takes time. So I will probably answer that question in a new thread.

13. Zhang Mingkang 1p

Born 2003 in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. Winner of 2018 King of Xinjiang Hua'ao Cup. After the PQT he told reporters:"This tournament is so hard! I would have earned an Early Qualification had I won the 12th round. But I was so nervous that I lost it under the pressure of byoyomi."14. Shi Ji 1p

Born 1998 in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province. Shi is some kind of celebrity because he was a finalist on a TV reality show called "King of Go". His dad was a Go instructor, and before learning how to read Chinese he learned how to read a Go kifu at age 5.15. Wang Haotian 1p

Born 2004 in Sanmenxia, Henan Province. Wang showed interest in Go since age 3 but did not start to take formal lessons until 8. Before long he became the strongest young amateur in Sanmenxia. In 2014 his dad started to take him to Luoyang to get Go lessons, studying with Wei Mingrui 2p (City of Luoyang has generated 35 pros so has a rich Go culture. New pro Han Zhuoran 1p went to the same go school as Wang so they were classmates). In 2015 Wang went to Beijing to study at Ge Dojo, with special attention from world champion Fan Tingyu. In 2017 he won the Luoyang "Zongzhi Software Cup". That same year he got admitted to Hangzhou Go School. He is the first pro from Sanmenxia.

16. Hu Zihao 1p

Born in 2006 in Hefei, Anhui Province, Hu is only 11 years old (will turn 12 in October). He would be the youngest new pro if not for the still younger Wu Yiming. He earned 6D by winning the Youth Group of the Little Bailing Cup in 2017.17. Han Enyi 1p

Born 2003 in Shanghai, Han also showed talent early. He started training with Zhang Ruochuan 5D in 2009 and went from 1k to 5D in 14 months. He has been active in Shanghai's Weiqi Leagues ever since. He was 2nd in the 7th Gaoyou Open last August and won the Ganzhou Jinghuan Cup last December. After turning pro he actually played and won the Mingyueshan Cup on August 22nd because he already registered for that tournament as an amateur.18. Zhang Yichao 1p

Born in Xinjiang, back in 2015 Zhang Yichao was not even sure if he would stay in Beijing after middle school. Because he was not a resident of Beijing he could not go to public high school in Beijing. Eventually he had to settle for a private school in the suburb and endure the daily commute. Now all that endurance paid off.

19. Wang Junxiao 1p

Born 2000 in Sichuang Province, Wang will turn 18 in September. As the reigning amateur champion of his home province, Wang Junxiao was actually considered the number one candidate to earn pro status among 18 Sichuan born participants in this year's PQT/HTT, ahead of 14 year old Yang Zhiwen (who finished 23rd in the PQT) and 12 year old new pro Zheng Zaixiang. His best finish this year was 3rd place in 2018 Lishui Qingyun Cup.20. Huang Chunqi 1p

Born 2003 in Cangnan, Zhejiang Province, Huang Chunqi became the 7th pro of Wenzhou prefecture. He was 2nd in 2014 Jiancheng Cup National Youth Championship Children's Group, runner up at 2015 Pufa Bank Cup (which earned him 6D at age 12), 2016 Wenzhou Jianqiao Cup champion. In 2017 he won the National Middle School Go Championship.Female pros from the PQT:

1. Wu Yiming 1p

Born in November 2006 in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, Wu is the youngest ever female pro in Chinese Go history. She stumbled upon Go at age 4 when her kindergarten teacher handed her parents a free pass to try out a Go class. After that her favorite activities changed from dancing and painting to playing Go. At age 7 she beat Hua Xueming 7p in a three stone game which won her high praise from National Team coach Yu Bin 9p. In 2014 she got admitted to Hangzhou Go School. The same year she finished 3rd in the Little Bailing Cup Group C, one place ahead of our other child prodigy Hu Zihao 1p.

In the 2017 National Games (these are very much like the Olympics and are held every 4 years, only the participating parties are the provinces instead of different countries) she lost by half point to the eventual champion Fang Ruoxi 1p in the quarter final and finished 5th. She cried all night but recovered quickly and beat Fang Ruoxi in the mixed team (she was paired with man's individual champion Liu Yuncheng 1p) championship to win Jiangsu Province the gold medal. During the competitions she is always the darling of the whole team due to her warm and outgoing personality. The national games actually had a zero tolerance policy about being punctual so if the game starts and you are not in position it is considered an automatic forfeit. During the last round of the mixed team competition her opponent was still absent as the game time approaching, so she ran to the door to find her opponent and led her back to their board position. During the PQT after reviewing the game in the night she would organize teammates and coaches to play games and singing!

A "young" Wu Yiming with her dad

Edit: I should add that her dad was an athlete in Swimming and aspired to represent Jiangsu in the National Games. It never crossed his mind that his 10 year old daughter would make it to the Games before he did, and would bring home a gold medal!

What if this warrant's a Wu Yiming watch?

_________________
On Go proverbs:
"A fine Gotation is a diamond in the hand of a dan of wit and a pebble in the hand of a kyu" —Joseph Raux misquoted.

I will certainly keep an eye on her progress Maybe before long we will seriously talking about Wu Yiming watch

By the way The 16th Jianqiao Cup Women's Open Weiqi Championship is in its preliminary stage. The two "Early Qualification" new pros Wu Yiming and Chu Ke'er met in the first round. Wu beat Chu to advance to 2nd round. She will face Wang Xiangyun 3p next.

Wu Yiming vs Chu Ke'er (The gentleman watching the game is Women's National Team coach Wang Lei 8p)

Continue with new pro introduction:

2. Chu Ke'er

She was the other Early Qualification on the women's side. Her only loss in the PQT was to Wu Yiming. Chu Ke'er was born in 2002 in Shengzhou, Zhejiang Province, hometown of world champion Ma Xiaochun 9p. Shengzhou was one of the first 5 Go Cities granted by China Sports Committee in 1990, and Chu went to the famous Lushan Elementary School that also produced Tong Mengcheng 6p, Sun Yuan 3p and of course Ma Xiaochun 9p, plus many strong amateurs. In 2018 she helped to promote Dalian Yidao into Women's A-League (together with Huang Jiayi 1p). She also finished as top women in 2017 Huai'an Cup (16th overall) and 2018 Lishui Qingyun Cup (5th overall).3. Huang Jiayi 1p

Born 2002 in Wuhu, Anhui Province. She started to take Go lessons at age 4 in Wuhu Experimental Kindergarten (that kindergarten provides Go lessons since 2003). Her Go teacher was the principal of Qizhi Go School and persuaded her parents to take lessons from Yu Zongxiang 5D at the Go School starting in 2007. She improved so fast that the next year she was promoted as an exception to the advanced class to study under Hao Mingguang 6D. As many other new pros, soon it became apparent that she needed to go to pro dojo to keep growing her strength. In 2010 her parents accompanied 8 year old Jiayi to Beijing to study at Ma Xiaochun Dojo. Her mother recalled that those were really tough times due to the high cost of living in the capital city. At one time they had trouble to raise enough money to pay for the tuition, and her hometown go school teacher Hao Mingguang 6D actually took a train ride to Beijing on his own expense to give Jiayi free lessons to keep her skills sharp. After several years they moved to Hangzhou to study at the Hangzhou Go School (unlike the Beijing dojos, Hangzhou Go School is actually a public school subsidized by the Hangzhou government, so the students pay no tuition or nominal tuition, and actually get paid 15 Chinese yuan per day for food). And after 8 years since she left her hometown she is finally a pro. Huang Jiayi is also the 3rd member of the aforementioned Dalian Yidao team that will be playing in Women's A-League. I hope they will keep that team intact.

Huang Jiayi in kindergarten4. Hang Xiaotong 1p

Born 2000 in Shuozhou, Shanxi Province.

Huang Jiayi has been in action as a pro already and has started off on a winning path:

Yes! Many of the new pros participated in the ongoing 16th Jianqiao Cup Open Championship. In fact Wu Yiming's game vs 2010 champion Wang Xiangyun 3p was one of the two games being broadcast on Sina Sports. Wu lost the game but Huang Jiayi and another new pro Ding Mingjun beat their opponents to advance to the main tournament. Huang's victory was especially impressive because her opponent Zhou Hongyu 4p is a 16 year old rising star and just beat Fujisawa Rina couple of days ago in the A-League.

Wu Yiming lost to Wang Xiangyun 3p in Round 2Huang Jiayi vs Yuan Weihong 2p in Round 1New pro Ding Mingjun beat Fang Ruoxi 1p (Fang was the 2017 National Games champion that beat Wu Yiming by half point in the quarter final) in Round 2

Interesting that Chinese pros get to see action so fast after earning pro status. I have long wondered if the long (end of summer to April?) gap between the pro exam and the start of pro career in Japan wasn't a problem. Is it unthinkable that it would be detrimental to lose months and months of professional play when you're still that young and able to improve? Nowadays a pro is competitive during what? 10/15 years (and if results are not great before let's say 20, it's probably not going to get much better afterwards), so is losing around six months at the very start a problem?

I think that gap should have some impact on their career. I am not familiar with Japanese competition rules but majority of the Chinese tournaments are open to all active pros (active means registered with CWA). Some have limited quota for amateurs too (for example the Changqi Cup). The rules of the 16th Jianqiao Cup clearly states that all registered female pros including this year's new pros are eligible.

Continuing with new pro introduction:

5. Zhou Yushan 1p

Born 1997 in Guiyang, Guizhou Province. Zhou Yushan became a local celebrity when she played an exhibition game against Nie Weiping 9p during the final stage of the very first Bailing Cup (the pro international version) in 2012. She got the nod by finish 2nd overall in the Post Service Cup held in Guiyang that year. As a 14 year old she said during an interview that her goal was to play in the pro league one day. It would take 6 more years to get the status needed to fulfill that goal. Zhou has been a force to be reckoned with in local amateur circles, winning two amateur Mingren titles of Guizhou Province. She earned 6D by winning Group A of 2017 Shangri-La Cup Women's National Amateur Championship （this is one of the rare female only amateur championships. Wu Yiming finished 7th in the same group).6. Gao Ruohuan 1p

Born 2000 in Chengdu, Sichuan Province. Gao Ruohuan was in a Go dojo as a 4 year old not to learn Go but to have a place to play after kindergarten so his dad, owner of the dojo, could keep a close eye on her. Her dad actually wanted her to play tennis but he gave up quickly realizing his daughter did not have talent for that sport. As it turned out the game she learned to play best at the Go dojo was, well, Go. Her dad was her only teacher until she reached 5D. And by now we all know the drill: it was time to go to Beijing or Hangzhou. The Gao family did both. In 2013 Ruohuan and her mother went to Beijing and spent three years there. In 2016 she got admitted to Hangzhou Go School. In 2017 Shanglu Cup Hangzhou International City Invitational she won team championship and individual 2nd place. In 2018 she won women's group of Luyoudao Cup National Amateur Championship. This is her 5th PQT.7. Jin Shan 1p

Born 1995 in Luoyang, Henan Province. As one of the "older" new pros, Jin Shan 1p is a sophomore at Shanghai Foreign Language University. She is an exception among these new pros in that she has been top of her class ever since elementary school, and in a sense Go is secondary to her academic study. She started taking go lessons at 6, and loved the game. But even as a kid she always finished her homework before taking her 7pm Go lessons. In 2007 she won Henan Province Women's Go Championship. To improve her skill she went to Beijing and Hangzhou like other new pros. But she did not let go of her academic study. In 2014 she won the women's group of both Qingdao Press Cup and Hua'an Cup. Like Sha Xinyu she is also active in collegiate competitions, winning 2nd place of Shanghai Collegiate Games in 2016 and championship in 2017. She also went undefeated in the women's group of 2017 World Collegiate Go Championship held in Bangkok, Thailand.

8. Ding Mingjun 1p

Born 2004 in Qingdao, Shandong Province. First female pro from the city of Qingdao. At age 4 she saw her dad reading a Go magazine and got interested in those pictures of black and white circles. Her dad explained the rules to her and put down some basic problems for her to solve, which she handled with ease. Her dad was owner of a Go club and realized that there was something special about her daughter. He start to teach Mingjun himself and it only took one year for her to reach 3D. In 2011 Ding Mingjun won a national children's competition and was awarded 5D at 7 and half, which according to some report was youngest female 5D at the time. In 2017 she won the 17th Shandong Province "King of Go" and became the first female winner of the event. That same year she also won the Hangzhou Shanglu Cup / National King of Go women's group. In 2018 she won the Luoyang Software Cup women's group while her dad won the senior group of the same event.

Ding Mingjun with dad after the PQT9. Zhang Xinyue 1p

Born in 2004 in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province. In October 2008 there was a Go class recruiting in her kindergarten so she asked her dad to put her in the class. Her dad did not think it was a good choice for a girl, but did not want to upset her so just said "yes", thinking she would forget about it altogether soon. But she kept pestering her dad for the next two days and eventually her dad gave in and found a Go class at Nanjing Qiyuan. She would take two lessons each week, and after 3 month she reach 3kyu. In 2010 she reached 4D at age 6 and became youngest female 4D in Nanjing. In 2018 she won the women's group in the 6th M'Lily Cup ahead of another new pro Zhou Yushan.10. Dong Tianyi 1p

Born 2004 in Wuhan, Hubei Province. In 2012 she won her age group in the National Yough Hope Cup. In 2015 she won girl's group in the National Youth Championship. In 2017 she finished 2nd in Shangri-La Cup Women's Amateur Open Championship to earn 6D.

New pros qualified through HTT Tournament:

On the men's side

1. Li Zehao 1p

Born 1999 in Wuzhou, Guangxi Province but grew up in Shanghai. Li Zehao is a university student in Shanghai and like Jin Shan 1p he views Go as secondary to academic study. He only goes to those tournaments that do not interfere with his uni study (this is part of the reason that the PQT is always held in Summer). But he is very active in the Shanghai Super Weiqi League as a member of Shanghai Sports Club. He is also an exception to the rule in that he never went to any professional dojo but is completely trained in Shanghai local youth centers and schools. Since reaching 5D in the third grade he has exclusively studied with Ge Fanfan 3p, who is also the coach of Shanghai Sports Club team. Before the HTT he told friends that he was only there for the fun. It seems that mentality has worked out pretty well for him. He earned 6D by finishing 8th in this year's Peach Blossom Spring Cup National Amateur Classic.2. Wei Xiaolin 7D

Born in 1998 in Taiyuan, Shanxi Province, Wei is a freshman at Shanghai University of Finance and Economics. He is one of the three top 10 finishers that decided to keep amateur status. Wei earned 6D in 2013 by finishing 2nd in the youth group of 4th Little Bailing Cup.3. Zhao Wei 1p

Born 1986 in Ezhou, Hubei Province, Zhao is the oldest qualifier this year. Like many other new pros, Zhao also enjoyed early fame as a young prodigy and Nie Weiping dojo actually waived his tuition for one year so he could study in Beijing. But eventually money ran out and he had to return home to continue academic study. In 2007 he got admitted to the same Shanghai University of Finance and Economics that Wei Xiaolin went. After graduation he started his own Go school. He has won quite a few championships during his university years, biggest of them is in 2008 when he won the 22nd Huanghe Cup and eared his 7D. He also won the 7th Collegiate Oza in 2009 held in Tokyo.

I would never have guessed that he is 32 years old!

4. Chen Hao 1p

Born 1997 in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province. It has become a theme of HHT that new pros must go to a Shanghai University! Chen Hao is also a current student of Shanghai University of Finance and Economics. In 2015 he won the Northern Beijing Weiqi Cup (another new pro Shi Ji was the runner up that year).5. Cheng Shijiao 7D

Didn't I mention that go to a Shanghai University is a thing for HTT qualifiers? Well 19 year old Cheng 7D is a sophomore at Shanghai Foreign Language University. Born in Sichuan Province, he was in the final of 2017 Sichuang "King of Weiqi" competition but lost to new pro Wang Junxiao 1p. He earned 6D by winning the youth group of 2014 Little Bailing Cup.6. Zhang Haowei 1p

Born 1997 in Ma'anshan, Anhui Province. Zhang has participated in the PQT since 2013 and starting in 2015 he had been in position to qualify every time but always lost the last round game to miss the promotion. But he did not give up and switching to HTT did the trick for him this year.

7. Nie Fenglin 7D

Born in 1991, Hunan Province. For a long time Nie was (and may still be) the top amateur in Hunan Province. He was 4 times champion (last in 2017) of Nine Star Cup (Hunan's top amateur event). He also won the very first Fengcheng Cup in 2008 (he won it with a score of 10 wins 1 loss, and that 1 loss was due to over sleep in round 5 resulted in a forfeit ). After the HTT he chose to remain an amateur. In an interview he gave 5 reasons why he made that choice: 1. He does not think he can get much higher rank with his age;
2. Pros with low CWA ranking does not have as much chance of playing as amateurs(there are many more amateur events than pro events, probably because it usually cost much less to host an amateur event and has less baggage / need to clear less hurdles to host an event);
3. He is not planning to make a living by teaching Go, so pro status is not important;
4. He thinks that with his age pro life is probably too competitive/exhaustive for him;
5. After the emergence of AI, the pursue of "perfect Go" does not motivate him nearly as much as before.8. Qin Jialin 1p

Born 2004 in Dongying, Shandong Province, Qin is the youngest qualifier through HTT tournament. He is another example of qualifier that never went to a pro dojo. He earned 6D by finishing 3rd in this year's Jinling Cup National Amateur Open Championship.9. Zhang Zihao 1p

Born 1996 in Baotou, Inner Mongolia, Zhang is a graduate student at Harbin Institute of Technology. He played in 2016 Gold Cup so Uberdude probably has seen him before