Emperor Wu of Northern Zhou
A game called "xiangqi" was mentioned as dating to the Warring States period; according to the first-century-BC text "Shuo Yuan" (說苑/说苑), it was one of Lord Mengchang of Qi's interests. But the rules of that game are not described, and it was not necessarily related to the present-day game. Emperor Wu of Northern Zhou wrote a book in AD 569 called "Xiang Jing". It described the rules of an astronomically themed game called xiangqi or xiangxi (). The word "xiàngqí" 象棋 is usually translated as "elephant game" or "figure game", because the Chinese character 象 means "elephant" and "figure"; it originated as a stylized drawing of an elephant, and was used to write a word meaning "figure", likely because the two words were pronounced the same.