Weiqi is becoming more and more popular around the world. The Google DeepMind challenge stirred up new interest in the game, and even our own club got a few new members after the game between Lee Sedol and DeepMind.
Yep. In Asia it is pretty much the game-de-jour. There are also a lot, i mean a LOT of professional players in China, Korea and Japan, but even a small nordic country like Finland, where I live, we have managed to 'produce' one professional weiqi player, Antti Törmänen.
I recommend you to try it out, if you have any affection to board games, you might like it. :)
You can learn the simple rules at the Interactive Way To Go and/or get taught at a weiqi association held event or a local club. There are also many servers to play on on the Internet. Pages for beginners may be of help too.
Thanks for adding more interesting information.