@CouchTomato87 created an introductory YouTube video to people new to Xiangqi.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EDG5RP8OZ8 I know of some attempts to popularise this grandiose game among chess players, but I recommend sticking with the Chinese characters. Those who are really interested in Xiangqi learn them very quickly. It takes maybe 20 minutes to become familiar with it and it becomes part of the culture.
You can find countless introductory videos on the net using Chinese character pieces.
We try to help people who have hard time learning it (or don't interested to learn it at all).
This doesn't mean you can't use original piece sets on pychess :)
Btw. to popularize kanji Shogi pieces
@visualdennis created this cute memory card game
www.pychess.org/404 :)