Chinese checkers finishers. The rules are simple, so even young children can play. Despite its name, the game is not a variation of checkers, nor did it originate in China or any part of Asia (whereas the game 象棋 "xiangqi", or "Chinese chess", is from China). The game was invented in Germany in 1892 under the name "Stern-Halma" as a variation of the older American game Halma. The "Stern" (German for "star") refers to the board's star shape (in contrast to the square board used in Halma). The name "Chinese Checkers" originated in the United States as a marketing scheme by Bill
Chinese Cambodian nationalism emerged and the Chinese were perceived as threatening to Cambodian sovereignty. During the various regimes between 1970 and 1990, Chinese enterprise and cultural expression was completely banned and destroyed and many ethnic Chinese died or fled the country. Following the Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia and the fall of Democratic Kampuchea, the new pro-Hanoi People's Republic of Kampuchea regime lifted some of the oppressive rules imposed on ethnic Chinese by the Khmer Rouge government. Chinese newspapers were allowed and the ban on speaking Chinese at home was lifted. However, partial restrictions and a certain amount of suspicion remained, for the