A grey Beijing morning turned solemn on 18 January as friends, colleagues and hundreds of self‑styled fans gathered in falling snow at the East Auditorium of Babaoshan Funeral Hall to bid farewell to Nie Weiping, the man long known in China as the “Qi Sheng” or “Go Sage.” The brief dispatch from state and local outlets captured the simple, powerful image: a generation of the sport’s followers standing in the cold to honor a figure who devoted his life to the game of weiqi.
Nie Weiping’s public stature rests on more than individual victories. He became a symbol of China’s emergence onto the international go stage in the late 20th century and was widely respected for his role in popularising the game at home. Generations of players and fans remember him not only as a competitor but as a mentor and public advocate who helped turn a traditional board game into a modern mass pursuit in China.
The choice of Babaoshan is itself telling. The Beijing cemetery has long hosted the final rites of public figures whose careers were seen as nationally significant. A send‑off there, attended by peers from the sporting world and the many lay enthusiasts who followed his life, signals both personal esteem and an element of official recognition for Nie’s cultural contribution.
The turnout in adverse weather captured the relationship between elite sport, popular culture and national identity. Weiqi is more than a pastime in East Asia; it is shorthand for intellectual discipline and cultural continuity. The image of people braving snow to pay respects implies a connection that extends beyond the narrow confines of competition to collective memory and civic ritual.
Nie’s passing also punctuates an era in which human masters were the public face of the game. The past decade’s disruptive technology — notably the development of powerful go engines and the wider influence of AI — has changed how professionals train and how the public perceives mastery. Yet the public ritual observed for Nie underlines that human stories, personalities and generational mentorship remain central to the game’s social life.
As the go world digests his death, attention will turn to how his legacy is preserved: through teaching, through commemorations and through the institutions that nurture new talent. For China, the farewell is likely to renew conversations about the place of traditional cultural practices in a modern, technologically driven society and about how figures from the sporting world contribute to national narratives and soft power.