Board game but with different meanings - Stories from the Stones

Carvings on the tombstones to me are truly wonderful if you know the meaning behind it but so frustrating if you don't ! Fortunately among the community of volunteers, there are a few who could identify the stories behind the carving on the stones and share them with me.

The theme of this article is Board Game (and for ancient chinese foklore this game is very likely to be 围棋 (Weiqi) or Go). The personalities in the story would differ depending on the characters playing the game. Below are 2, i wanted to share in my recent explorations.

The first: Zhao Yan pleads for Longevity (赵颜求寿)

The carving is from the earth deity of the tomb of Mr. and Mrs. Ong Sam Leong. To the uninitiated, the main character they would in middle of the tableau of course is 2 person playing a board game.

Zhao Yan pleads for Longevity (赵颜求寿)

Zhao Yan (赵颜) was a poor boy who lived during the era of the Three Kingdoms. One day, he was tending to his fields with his buffalo when he met Guan Lu (管辂), a man skilled in divination. Guan Lu could tell that Zhao had only 3 more days to live. As Zhao was a filial child, Guan decided to help him. He asked him to bring wine and meat to the South Hills (南山) where he would find two old gentlemen playing chess under the old pine tree. Zhao quietly serve them the wine and meat as they played without disturbing their game. The old men were the North Dipper (北斗) and South Dipper (南斗) star deities. At the end of their game, they were obliged to repay Zhao for his food and drink. The North Dipper added a “nine” in front of the two characters “ten nine” next to Zhao’s name in his birth register, extending Zhao’s life to ninety-nine years (folklore had it that the South Dipper was in charge of birth while the North Dipper was in charge of death). And that was how Zhao lived to a ripe old age.

The second: Hua Tuo scrapes away the poison from Guan Yu

The carving from the tomb shoulder of  Mr. Teo Chin Chay tells a very interesting story from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms ( 三國演義 ). Again, to the uninitiated, you will see 2 man playing a board game. 

Hua Tuo scrapes away the poison from Guan Yu

The carving from the tombstone below depicts the famous Chinese Physician Hua Tuo healing General Guan Yu, who was hit in the arm by a poisoned arrow during the Battle of Fancheng by using a knife to cut the flesh and scrape of the poison from the bone. Hua Tuo initially offered to anaesthetise Guan Yu, but he simply laughs and says that he is not afraid of pain. During this treatment, Guan Yu continues to play a game of weiqi with Ma Liang without flinching from pain. When Ma Liang asks him later, Guan Yu says that he feigned being unhurt to keep the morale of his troops high.

Guan Yu rewards Hus Tuo with a sumptuous banquet and offers a gift of 100 ounces of gold, but Hua Tuo refuses, saying that a physician's duty is to heal patients and not to make profit. Although Hua Tuo historically died in 208, a decade before Guan Yu fought at the Battle of Fancheng, this story of him performing surgery on Guan Yu has become a popular artistic theme.

References 

Zhao Yan pleads for Longevity (赵颜求寿) Stories from the Stones. Rojak Librarian (posted on 21 July 2019)

Hua Tuo scrapes away the poison from Guan Yu (Stories from the Stones). Rojak Librarian (posted on 1 June 2019). 

Hua Tuo scrapes away the poison from Guan Yu (Stories from the Stones). Rojak Librarian (posted on 27 June 2022).