Luzhanqi ("Land Battle Game") is a war game. It is very similar to the game known in the western world as Stratego, with the aim being to capture the opponent's flag. Like Stratego, it is purely strategic in the sense that dice play no role, but as it involves hidden information about the whereabouts of the opponent's flag and other pieces, chance does play a not-insignificant role. Capturing is by displacement of a lower ranked piece by a higher ranked piece.
Very little is known about the origin and history of Luzhanqi. Jean-Louis Cazaux and Rick Knowlton, in their "A World of Chess" suggest it may date from the first quarter of the 20th century, which would make it about a 100 years old and older than Stratego. Whichever the oldest of the two games is, an interesting question is whether the two games influenced each other in some way, or whether they arrived at almost identical game-play (i.e. strategic war game, hidden information, aim of capturing the opponent's flag) independent of each other (akin to 'convergent evolution' in biology).
I picked up my Luzhanqi set in a Chinese shop in London many years ago.
The board is a basic paper board, showing roads, railroads, camps, and other features.
The wooden pieces show various military ranks, as well as bombs, mines, and, of course, the flag.
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