Larry Smith wrote on Fri, Jan 30, 2004 02:54 PM UTC:
In XiangQi, it is suppose to be illegal to expose your King to capture.
But these students might merely be playing these games through to capture
in order to learn its nuances. That way they can learn to visualize all
these potential lines of attack on the King and realize a 'checkmate'
position.
Then again, it might be a local form of play. ;-)