Country: China

At the Gates of Loyang is a trading game in which you are able to produce goods by planting them and later selling them to customers. You can use the abilities of some helpers to increase your income or production.

Fields, customers, helpers, and miscellaneous objects are represented by cards. Each player receives two of these cards per round distributed by a bidding/drawing mechanism in which you end up with one of the cards you draw and one of the cards of a public offer filled by all players. Additionally, to these cards you always receive one field for free each round.

Placing one good on a field fills the complete field with goods of this type. Each round, one unit per field is harvested. After planting, harvesting, and distributing cards, each player can use as many actions as he wants, only limited by the number of his cards or the number of goods he owns. At the end of his turn, he can invest the earned money on a scoring track, where early money is worth more than late money. The game ends after a certain number of rounds, and the player who is first on the scoring track wins.

Online Play

Yucata (turn-based)

In a large town in medieval China, several talented artisans – Masters in their own right – aspire to become recognized as Zong Shi: the Grand Master craftsman. You are one of these master artisans and together with your apprentice, you are competing with the other Masters to attain this elevated status in the town. To succeed, you'll have to impress the townspeople with your skills. How shall you do it? Will you acquire a specialist's mastery over certain material, or will you enlarge your workshop? Will you create a large number of smaller projects or will you build fewer, but greater, masterworks? That is for you to decide.

Zong Shi blends worker placement, resource management, project completion and special action cards. To set up the game, lay out the project cards (eight types, each with a special power) and masterwork projects (only three at a time) on the game board; draw goods randomly for the two markets; lay out the exchange tiles in the pawn shop; and lay out a certain number of Scrolls of Fortune and material tiles. Players take turns drafting Scrolls (which have one-shot abilities) and materials (needed to complete projects), then the first round begins.

In each round, players take one action with their master or apprentice, then take one action with their other figure. The possible actions are:

Begin a project – Master only. Pay the material cost, then place the master on the time track in the space shown on the project.
Go to the market – Hang out and shoot the breeze until the next phase.
Go to the temple – Draw one Scroll (or more if your master is at the temple and donates material).
Go to the pawn shop – Choose an exchange tile in the shop and place the exchange tile on your player board. You may then swap one material shown on that tile for the other material on the tile.
Pay respectful visits – Visit a townsperson, donate materials of the right type equal to the visit tile you place there, then take the special action associated with that person this game.
Pass

Those in the market then take turns choosing materials located there. You can hold no more than five materials. Players then advance their master on the time track to represent work on the project. Refill materials in the market, pass the start marker, then begin a new round.

When a player completes his sixth project, players complete that round and one additional full round. Players tally points for completed projects, incomplete projects (which are penalized), number of townspeople visited, a full board of exchange tiles, completion of six projects and unused scrolls and material. The player with the most points wins.

Stefan Feld's 3rd game by Alea is Im Jahr des Drachen (In the Year of the Dragon).

Players take on the role of Chinese rulers around the year 1000. The game plays out in twelve rounds, with each round representing one month in a year that seems to go from bad to worse. Disease, drought, and attacks from the Mongols may claim lives, but make sure you have enough money to offer a tribute to the Emperor.

The game play is easier than it may appear. Every player has a set of "person" cards. Each round, you choose one action (most of which call on your workers' abilities) help you prepare for the months ahead. Then you play one person card, recruiting that person and placing him into one of your palaces. Each person brings different skills and abilities to help you ride out the year. (Farmers help you gain rice to survive a drought month, Tax Collectors raise money, etc.) At the end of each round, that month's event is triggered, which may cost you some of your workers, some money, or give you points.

Careful planning is the key to surviving "the year of the dragon," but survival alone may not win you the game.

China is an abstracted game of political influence in China. Players use cards to place pieces (Houses or Emissaries) into the nine regions on the board. When all house spaces in a region are filled (or at the end of the game), players score for majorities of houses in that region. At game end, players then score for having majorities of emissaries in two adjacent regions. Players also score for having four or more houses in an uninterrupted sequence along one of the roads on the board.

This fascinating game of domination combines multiple tactical possibilities with simple-to-learn rules and a short playing time!

Even today in China, the unmistakable evidence of a fascinating story is everywhere. Hundreds of years ago, the country teetered on the brink of a change in power. Regional rulers fought continuously with each other with only one goal in mind: to become the new Emperor. They erected imposing houses and sent their emissaries to the regional courts.

China is based on the award-winning game Web of Power by master game designer Michael Schacht. China differs from Web of Power in that there is no "half-time" scoring of regions as there is in the earlier game; there are four face-up cards to draw from instead of just two; and all adjacent regions have Emissary scoring opportunities, whereas in Web of Power, some adjacent regions did not.
A special variant with fortifications is included.

Aside from these differences, the two games are essentially the same.

Online Play

http://www.boardgames-online.net (turn-based)

implemented bonus maps: Web of Power, Hellenia, Skandinavia, America, AD 850, Life on Mars, Big in Japan

Re-implements:

Web of Power

Expanded by:

China - Das Duell (Two-player variant)
China Erweiterung
China: Grenzstreitigkeiten
China Einflusskarten
China: The Embassies

In the Celestial Empire of the Ming Dynasty the leading families vie with one another for political power and influence over the Imperial government. They do not compete by brazen force of arms, but within the confines of Confucian philosophy. Subtle influence is wielded, gifts are given and received, setting up a network of relationships that will lead one family to dominate the government under a benign Emperor. Players of Confucius participate in this discreet and delicate struggle for power. As well as influencing the three principal ministries of government, leadership of the great exploration and trading fleets will bring renown to the one who heads them, and glory attends the general leading invasions of foreign lands.