9 Pin Zhi
9 Pin Zhi was an ancient Chinese ranking system for the game of Go, which first appeared in the 3rd century book Classic of Arts by Handan Chun. He ranks 9 different Pin for Go players, from strong to weak:
夫围棋之品有九：There are 9 levels in go:
- 一曰入神 – 1 pin Being in the Spirit
- 二曰坐照 – 2 pin Seated in Enlightenment
- 三曰具体 – 3 pin Concreteness
- 四曰通幽 – 4 pin Understanding changes
- 五曰用智 – 5 pin Applying Wisdom
- 六曰小巧 – 6 pin Ability
- 七曰斗力 – 7 pin Fighting Strength
- 八曰若愚 – 8 pin Being Quite Inept
- 九曰守拙 – 9 pin Being Truly Stupid
This system is loosely based on the Nine-rank system, used at the imperial court to rank the importance of officials.