Abstract: Many hypotheses have been proposed about the origin of the Chinese Go. Scholars tend to believe that it originated in the Qin Dynasty, while the claim that it originated in the Western Han Dynasty has a considerable impact in recent years. Using the methods of literature review, comparison and logical analysis, the paper makes a careful examination of the theory of “Go Originating in the Western Han Dynasty”, only to find that the researchers supportive of the theory mixed up the annotations with interpretations of the original annotations, misplaced Song School and Qing School, thus drawing false conclusions. Besides, scholars’ improper interpretations of historical clues in the unearthed cultural relics also added to the false conclusions. This article concludes that the game should have originated in the Pre-Qin period, which was not only confirmed by scholars of various dynasties, but also supported by the unearthed cultural relics and literature.

Key words: Origin of Go, Yi (Game), Go Board from the Western Han Dynasty, Dialect