During the Northern and Southern dynasties (420-581 A.D.), quite a few emperors loved to play weiqi. Emperor Jianwen of the Liang was interested in weiqi's principles and wrote five volumes titled Qipin. Emperor Wu of the Liangordered Liu Yun to grade all players. So Liu Yun divided players into nine grades, the first grade was highest and the ninth grade was lowest. Today, players are still
divided into nine grades. The only difference is that the first grade is considered the lowest and the ninth grade is the highest.
During the Sui and Tang dynasties (581-907 A.D.), weiqi circulated among the people. A woman was usually skilled at poetry, calligraphy, drawing and weiqi. It was said: One day Yang Guifei (the highest-ranking imperial concubine) watched Emperor XuanZong of the Tang play while she held a little dog in her arms. When the emperor was in danger of being beaten by the other side,
Guifei put the dog out on the board to confuse pieces so the emperor could save his face.
