Trip to China: What to buy?

[SoDesuNe]

Hey!

I'm going to be in China in July and asked myself, what I should buy (Go-related)? Maybe you guys have some ideas to share?
So far, I want to buy (I took this list as a reference):

• Lee Chang Ho's Selected Life and Death Go Problems
• Lee Chang Ho's Selected Tesuji Go Problems
• Weiqi Life and Death 1000 Problems
• Weiqi Life and Death Drills
• (white) Yuki (I don't know how affordable they are in China) Go-stones

Focus is on Life-and-Death/Tesuji-books because my chinese is not yet good enough to really read a book.

Any input? =)

[vash3g]

if you have room in your suitcase, you should buy it

[SoDesuNe]

I make sure, I have enough room : D

What is "it" in your post, by the way? Does it refer to the books in my post? They will most definitely be bought ^^

[tchan001]

Recent books you might want to look for:

Nie Weiping Weiqi Dojo Training Secret Manual – Life and Death Problems
Research on Weiqi Fa Yang Lun (Research on Igo Hatsuyoron)
The Brilliant Use of Tesuji (Attack & Defense)

Older books you might want to buy if you happen to see them:

The Brilliant Use of Tesuji (L&D)
Step by Step Weiqi Fundamentals Training (11 books)
Step by Step Integrated Weiqi Skills Tests
Chinese Japanese Korean Classic Life and Death Problem Treasury for Beginners
Korean Baduk Classic Life and Death Drills
Weiqi Kyu and Dan Level Test (Beginner Level Test with 1000 questions)
Weiqi Dan Level Test (Intermediate Level Test for 1d-4d)
Weiqi Small Leisure Collection

If you want a nice set of reference books, try to look for this series (at least the blue ones)

Weiqi Big Complete Encyclopedia Series

Hope you bring a BIG suitcase.

[cdybeijing]

Where in China are you going to be?

[SoDesuNe]

The Brilliant Use of Tesuji (Attack & Defense)

The Brilliant Use of Tesuji (L&D)

Weiqi Kyu and Dan Level Test (Beginner Level Test with 1000 questions)

Weiqi Dan Level Test (Intermediate Level Test for 1d-4d)

Weiqi Small Leisure Collection

Weiqi Big Complete Encyclopedia Series

Great! Thank you!
I really hope, I find those! :O (I have a BIG suitcase, but still, 20KG is maximum ^^)


cdybeijing
I'll mostly stay in Wuhan but I'll make trips to Beijing and Shanghai, maybe Hong-Kong, if applying for a visa is affordable (time/money).

[Koosh]

July!
If only you had booked to come a little sooner I could meet with you in Beijing.

Of course, I could have also booked a little later.

[tchan001]

Visa for Hong Kong for most tourists is free and automatically given when you enter Hong Kong. But do check the following list for your country to be sure of official visa requirements.
http://www.immd.gov.hk/ehtml/hkvisas_4.htm

[cdybeijing]

Send me a message when you're in Beijing and maybe we can meet up. I already have plans to get together with Koosh. Is your trip to Wuhan go based?

Also, if you are looking to acquire stones, I don't think you should wait until you arrive in Beijing to buy them. In this city, you can buy high quality slate and shell or low quality glass stones, but I don't personally know of a physical location where I can pick up some reasonably priced yunzi pieces. I ordered most of my equipment from out of province. I'm sure there are places, I just do not know of them.

[tchan001]

I don't personally know of a physical location where I can pick up some reasonably priced yunzi pieces.

Maybe try here?

北京双龙棋具专卖店
地址:北京市崇文区天坛东路80号中国棋院539室
联系电话:400-639-7007

http://www.lyslwq.com/lxwm.asp

[cdybeijing]

I don't personally know of a physical location where I can pick up some reasonably priced yunzi pieces.

Maybe try here?

北京双龙棋具专卖店
地址:北京市崇文区天坛东路80号中国棋院539室
联系电话:400-639-7007

http://www.lyslwq.com/lxwm.asp

I suppose it's only slightly reasonable that the qi yuan would have an equipment shop... duh. The sad thing is I've actually been there several times, but never thought to ask about a store.

[SoDesuNe]

Thank you both, chances are I will visit Hong Kong then ^^
I think, I "found" this store in Beijing on a Sensei's Library page. Guess, it'll be harder to find it in Beijing ^^


cdybeijing
Primarily I will study chinese in Wuhan. But I hope, I can visit the "famous" Go school, Guo Juan makes trips to, once in a while ^^

[moonrabbit]

Adding to the above suggestions, I particularly suggest getting:

1) The Cho Chikun Life and Death Dictionary (the one illegally translated as "All About Life and Death")

2) The Weiqi Small Dictionaries can be good for the problems:
http://senseis.xmp.net/?WeiqiSmallDictionarySeries

I have the endgame book and it contains a number of 11x11 problems that I haven't seen elsewhere.

3) The Korean Speed Baduk series is available as "Sucheng Weiqi" (速成围棋) in Chinese. In addition to Vol 1-12 (which have been translated into English) there are some follow-up volumes (which have not yet been translated.) Vol 1-12 didn't have solutions when I was in China last year but the later volumes do have answers in the back.

You probably know this, but Western credit cards generally won't work in Chinese bookstores, so bring cash when you go shopping. If you run out of luggage space, you can always mail yourself a box of books -- if I remember correctly, surface mail from China isn't all that expensive.

I'd be surprised if you found slate and shell stones at a price much lower than ordering directly from Japan (luxury items in China are not cheap.)

Have fun on your trip!

[tchan001]

I think he's looking for affordable yunzi stones. If he wanted to buy luxury go stones in China, I'd recommend agate stones because they are made in China. But do look over each agate stone to make sure they aren't funny shaped. I don't think the Chinese quality control is as strict as Japanese manufacturers so you really need to check to make sure what you are buying is good quality if you are paying big bucks.

[SoDesuNe]

Hm, I guess "Yuki" is a bit misleading. My Go store of choice labels slate and shell stones of the highest quality with "Yuki".
Here, they cost around 380€ (8.4mm). I thought I could save quite an amount of money when I buy them directly in China, so that no shipping costs and store's interest add up.