“No, no, no. It is very similar. Instead of your representational carvings, we play with these wooden disks. The character on each disk tells us what it is.”

“She’s not familiar with Chinese characters, Uncle. Once the pieces are out of position she’ll never remember what they are.”

“I don’t think that will be a problem,” Margaret said, a tiny edge to her voice. “I have a pretty well photographic memory.”

“Good, good.” Old Yifu clapped his hands with pleasure and began explaining the board and the rules. Instead of moving pieces into each square, you moved them on to the intersection. There was a King, but no Queen, just two King’s Guides. The four-square area at the centre-back at each side was the only area in which the King could move—one space at a time at right angles. The same rule applied to the King’s Guides, except that they could only move on the diagonal. The pawns were called Soldiers, the knight was a Horse, and while it moved in the same way as the knight, it could not jump another piece to do so. There were other minor variations in the names of pieces and their movements, but essentially it was the game Margaret knew and played in the States. The board, however, was dissected by a single broad belt representing a river. And you didn’t “take” a piece, you “ate” it.

Margaret was to play with the red pieces, Old Yifu with the black. Li, resigned to the game going ahead, sighed and leaned back against the trunk of the tree that shaded the board and folded his arms across his chest. “How is your office?” Old Yifu asked him as Margaret made her first move.

“It’s fine,” Li said.

“Fine? Just fine? The feng shui man showed me his plan. It looked excellent to me. You will work well in this office.”

“Yes, of course. Thank you, Uncle.”

Old Yifu grinned wickedly at Margaret. “I detect a little scepticism. He thinks his uncle is a superstitious old fool.”

“Then he is the fool,” Margaret said. “Feng shui or not, I can see sound reasons for all the changes.”

“Naturally. Superstition grows from the practice of truths. Not the other way around.” He brought his Horse straight into play. “Your move.” And as she contemplated her next move, he said, “I have always been a great admirer of the Americans. Like the Chinese, you are a very practical people. But you are also dreamers who try to make your dreams come true. And that is not at all practical.” He shrugged. “But, then, you have succeeded in turning so many of your dreams into reality. I think it is a good thing to have a dream in life. It is something to aim for, to give you focus.”