Chinese Chess, or Xiangqi which is the preferred official term, is the most played board game or form of chess in the Orient. Xiangqi is the Hanyu Pinyin for Elephant Chess (xiàng and qí respectively) in Chinese. Yet despite its popularity inside Asia, it pales in comparison in the West. Understanding the Elephant: A Xiangqi Primer is a series of books aimed at promoting the game to the West. Many have heard about the story of the blind men touching different parts of an elephant before giving a description of what the thought an elephant would look like. They were all correct and yet they were all wrong at the same time. Understanding the Elephant would hope to take away that blindfold, to allow the reader to see Xiangqi in its full splendour. It also represents the books or information that the author wished he had when he first started learning the game decades ago. In the very first part of the series, the history of Xiangqi is presented. Ancient Chinese texts, and contemporary books on the subject have been used to present and compare early articles or books on the topic in the West. The chapter will be divided into three sections. The first section will deal with the history of Xiangqi from the pre-historic times up till the Song Dynasty. This section would be concerned about the origins of Xiangqi. Several hypotheses relating to the origins or ancient prototypes of Xiangqi would be presented. The current form of Xiangqi which we play today existed no later than the Song Dynasty. The second section would deal with the history of Xiangqi after the Song Dynasty up till the twenty-first century. This section would be more concerned with the people, Xiangqi literature, and the cultural aspect of Xiangqi. The third section is a short section of stories or fables related to Xiangqi. For example, stories explaning why Red and Black are used in Xiangqi, why Red moves first et cetera are explained here. This book is unique in that it discusses the history of Xiangqi from pre-historic times up till the twenty first century. Comparisons of ancient Chinese texts with early literature has also been done. By no means can this book contain all there is to know about the history of Xiangqi. Rather, it would be an introduction to the intriguing subject of the history of Xiangqi, one of the gems of the Chinese culture.