A 1960s Taiwanese Board Game Where You Take Back Mainland China

Game found on redditThe Taiwanese board game above is from the 1960s and is called Counteroffensive Victory Chess (反攻勝利棋). The goal was to take back China by starting from Taiwan and slowly retaking the provinces with a dice until the first player that reaches Nanjing wins the game.

Interestingly enough, Bangladesh was labelled as ‘Pakistan’ as it hasn’t become independent yet at the time, Kashmir (喀什米爾) was depicted as neither India’s or Pakistan’s but instead it’s own independent country, while Korea and Vietnam are both shown as one unified country, presumably not communist as it uses the name 韓國 or Hanguk which is the name of South Korea instead of 朝鮮 or Choson by North Korea, perhaps indicating this map was supposed to show a future where the communist had lost the Korean and Vietnam War and Kashmir becoming independent?

In case anyone curious or wants the retake China in the future, here’s the route from the game for reference that makes complete sense:

Taipei-Matsu or Kinmen-Fuzhou-Guangzhou-Haikou-Guilin-Guiyang-Chengdu-Kangding-Kunming-Lhasa-Dihua (Urumqi)-Xining-Lanzhou-Xi’an-Changsha-Nanchang-Hangzhou-Hefei-Wuchang (merged with Hanyang to become Wuhan)-Kaifeng-Taiyuan-Yinchuan-Guisui (Hohhot)-Khüree/Kulun (Ulaanbaatar)-Hailar-Qiqihar-Bei’an-Jiamusi-Mudanjiang-Jilin-Tonghua-Shenyang-Liaoyuan (Shuangliao)-Chengde-Zhangyuan (Zhangjiakou)-Qingyuan-Jinan-Zhenjiang-Nanjing

Image source:秋惠文庫 Formosa Vintage Museum