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A disc bearing the cannon character.
Also known as: Pao piece, Catapult piece, Xiangqi cannon
The xiangqi cannon, moving like the chariot but capturing only by jumping exactly one piece.
Moves any distance orthogonally but captures only by jumping exactly one intervening piece.
Contexts: History
Has no counterpart in Western chess at all, and needs a piece in the way to capture, so removing a defender can make a square safer rather than less safe.
Contexts: History
Related forms that are not treated as separate canonical symbols — see our variant rules.
Red cannon (炮)
Red plays 炮 (pào) and black plays 砲 (pào). The two characters name the same cannon, which moves and captures identically on either side — the glyph says whose piece it is, not what it does. Both are read the same way aloud, so the distinction is visible on the board and inaudible in play.
Black cannon (砲)
Red plays 炮 (pào) and black plays 砲 (pào). The two characters name the same cannon, which moves and captures identically on either side — the glyph says whose piece it is, not what it does. Both are read the same way aloud, so the distinction is visible on the board and inaudible in play.
A flat circle carrying a single glyph, the two sides using different glyphs for one piece.