This ancient game is mentioned at the same length as Go 围棋, but it disappeared into the annals of history while Go becomes an international hit. This set found in the tomb of son of Lady Dai is the only complete set of Liubo 六博 found so far.
National Treasure 国宝
Liubo Chess Set 六博棋具
Lacquerware, bones | Western Han Dynasty (202 BC-9 AD) | Overall Height 17cm, Length 45 cm, Width 45cm | Excavated from Tomb 3, Mawangdui, Hunan Province, China | Hunan Provincial Museum collection 漆器、骨器 | 西汉（公元前202年-公元9年） | 湖南省马王堆3号墓出土 | 湖南省博物馆藏
Liubo 六博, aka bo 博, was an ancient Chinese board game for two players. This game was played since the the Warring States era (4th century BC) and maybe much earlier (7th century BC) as it is quoted in Confucius’ Analects (Book XVII, 22): “It is difficult for a man who always has a full stomach to put his mind to some use. Are there not players of bo and yi [aka Go in modern day terms]? Even playing these games is better than being idle.”1
Records of the Grand Scribe (史記): The Book of Entertainers (貨殖列傳) records: “If it happens to be a countryside gathering, men and women would sit mixed, drinking and playing the game of bo. They would shake hands to avoid punishment and staring in the eyes of other people is not forbidden.” From this we can imagine how noisy and excited the scene of playing bo was during the Warring States Period.2
The rules have largely been lost, but it is believed that each player had six game pieces that were moved around the points of a square game board that had a distinctive, symmetrical pattern. 3
This chess set excavated from the tomb of Li Xiang 利豨4, 2nd Marquis of Dai 轪侯 and son of Lady Dai5, includes a lacquered box, black and white large chess pieces, small chess pieces, gambling tokens 算筹 (like a casino chip) for counting wins and losses, a pair of shaving and scraping knives and a single dice 骰子 (pronounced as tóuzi).6 It is the earliest and most complete set of liubo in existence.7
The octagonal dice inside the set has 18 sides (like a dice from Dungeons and Dragons8), and is carved with numbers 1 to 16, and two words jiāo 骄 (“proud”, representing a good move)、jiān 艱 (“difficult”, representing a bad move).9
And it also comes with a beautiful lacquerware cover to put everything away when you are done with the game. The top has swirling patten of birds and wavy patterns of clouds and diamonds on the edges.
Apparently very popular during the Han dynasty (207 BC – 220 AD) when the best players were well respected and formed a teams, just like e-sports these days.10 Like all fads, tt later vanished, probably outshone by the Chinese adaptation of Nard (a Backgammon ancestor) coming from India and Persia when the Tang (618-907) re-opened the Silk Road. The very last reference dates from the Song time (before 1162) where it was quoted as an “old game”.
Photos taken at Hunan Provincial Museum Oct 2025, Museum of Nanyue King Jan 2022, Luoyang Ancient Tombs Museum Mar 2024.
About Chinese National Treasure Series
中華國寶系列 Chinese National Treasure series feature specific artefacts and relics from museums all around the world that are historically significant to be considered a National Treasure. The series covers the 5,000 years of Chinese civilisation from Neolithic periods before the Xia dynasty (c. 2070-1600 BC) to modern day.
Footnotes :
- 《論語。陽貨》22 – 子曰：「飽食終日、無所用心、難矣哉。不有博奕者乎。爲之猶賢乎已 。」 ↩︎
- The game of bo originated very early in China. Records of the Grand Scribe: The True Records of Yin says: “Emperor Wuyi was a man of no moral standards. He created a wooden figure and named it Heavenly God. He played bo with it and punished it when it failed to win the game.” From this we can see that bo appeared in the Shang Dynasty at the latest. The game of bo had become a popular entertainment activity of the people between the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. Records of the Warring States: Records of the State of Qi records: “The land of Linzi is very wealthy and the people there all play yu (mouth organ) and se (25-stringed zither) …… and play the game of bo.” https://www.hnmuseum.com/en/zuixintuijie/lacquered-liubo-chess-set, accessed 28 Nov 2025 ↩︎
- 利豨墓出土。博戏是智力竞技游戏，先秦已流行，汉代尤盛，上自天子百官，下至平民百姓无不喜爱，玩法已失传。Museum information card, accessed 28 Nov 2025 ↩︎
- 利豨（—前165年）是西汉第二代轪侯，利苍之子，封地在江夏郡轪县（今河南省罗山县和光山县之间，一说在今湖北省浠水县兰溪镇）。马王堆三号墓可能是其墓葬，因马王堆三号墓没有直接出土能直接证明墓主人身份的文物，所以存在争论；另外马王堆三号墓出土木牍有“十二年二月乙巳”字样，下葬时间为前168年3月12日，与《史记》、《汉书》记载的利豨卒年前165年有所不同。https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-sg/利豨, accessed 28 Nov 2025 ↩︎
- 轨侯爵高禄厚，家藏千金，奴婢成群。侯府内锺鼎宴飨、食不厌精，楚歌郑舞、琴瑟和鸣，粉黛锦容、罗绮丽裳。器用、服饰制作精美，装饰华丽，凸显出当时人们较高的审美意识和艺术修养，也反映了汉初髹漆、纺织等工艺成就。
A nobleman with a provided income, The Marquis of Dai possessed a wealthy household and retained a large retinue of servants. Li Cang and his family lived in great style, eating fine food at lavish banquets and dressing in the finest clothes. Their vessels and accessories were exquisitely made and possessed lavish ornamentation, highlighting the strong aesthetic sense and artistic cultivation of the Han Dynasty people, as well as reflecting the technical accomplishments of early Han Dynasty lacquerware and textiles. Museum information card, Oct 2025 ↩︎ - Provenance : Tomb M3 (believed to be that of the son of the Marquis of Dai) at Mawangdui, Changsha, Hunan.
Current Location : Hunan Provincial Museum.
Date : Early Western Han (206 BCE – 25 CE), 12th year of Emperor Han Wendi (168 BCE)
Description :
A black lacquered wooden game box (45.0 × 45.0 × 17.0 cm.).
A black lacquered wooden flat game board (45.0 × 45.0 × 1.2 cm.).
12 cuboidal ivory game pieces (4.2 × 2.2 × 2.3 cm.), six black and six white.
20 ivory game pieces (2.9 × 1.7 × 1.0 cm.).
30 ivory counting rods (16.4 cm. long).
12 ivory throwing sticks (22.7 cm. long).
One ivory knife (22.0 cm. long).
One ivory scraper (17.2 cm. long).
An eighteen-sided die with the numbers “1” through “16” and characters meaning “win” and “lose” (not listed in the inventory of grave goods).
Notes : The inventory of grave goods found in the tomb lists the Liubo set as :
博一具 “one set of Liubo”
博局一 “one Liubo board”
象其十二 “twelve ivory game pieces”
象直食其廿 “twenty ivory ‘straight eating’ game pieces”
象筭三十枚 “thirty ivory counters”
象□□□□ (last four characters obliterated) “[twelve] ivory [throwing rods]”
象割刀一 “one ivory knife”
象削一 “one ivory scraper”
References : 《長沙馬王堆二、三號漢墓發掘簡報》 (《文物》1974.7); 《馬王堆漢墓文物》 (湖南出版社, 1992年). https://www.babelstone.co.uk/Blog/2011/01/lost-game-of-liubo-part-4-game-boards.html, accessed 28 Nov 2025 ↩︎ - 此套博具包括漆盒、博局、黑白大棋子、小棋子、算筹、削、刮刀及骰子，是现存最早最完整的一套博具。Museum information card, accessed 28 Nov 2025 ↩︎
- This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. ↩︎
- 骰子18面，字分别为一至十六、骄、艱。是现存最早最完整的一套博具。Museum information card, accessed 28 Nov 2025 ↩︎
- The game of bo became even more popular in the Han Dynasty. From the emperor and high court officials to the populace, everybody was a super fan of it. Some people were even so infatuated by it that “they abandon their pursuit and forget eating and sleeping”. According to historical records, Emperors Wendi, Jingdi, Wudi, Zhaodi and Xuandi were all enthusiasts of the game of bo. That the highest rulers loved this game increased the popularity of bo in the society, and people good at this game not only were highly respected by others but also enjoyed relatively high social status. https://www.hnmuseum.com/en/zuixintuijie/lacquered-liubo-chess-set, accessed 28 Nov 2025 ↩︎
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