Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch
RASHKB and author
Vol. 1 (1961)
ISSN 1991-7295
30
THE KNIGHT ERRANT IN
CHINESE LITERATURE
A lecture delivered on January 23, 1961.
JAMES J. Y. LIU, M.A.
Most Western readers of Chinese literature are probably familiar with such types as the Confucian scholar, the Taoist recluse, the Buddhist monk, the romantic young lady, the intriguing eunuch, and the corrupt official, but there is another important type that is perhaps not so well known to Western readers: the knight errant. I am using the expression "knight errant" because it happens to be a fairly close translation of the Chinese term yu-hsia (#), though this does not imply that the ancient Chinese knight errant resembled the Mediaeval European one in every respect. The Chinese knights were not members of religious orders like the Knights Templars, nor were they members of a caste like the Japanese samurai. Though they often had many followers, they were not highly organized. They differed from professional warriors on the one hand, and mere bandits on the other. The essential qualifications of a knight errant were not so much outstanding physical strength and military skill as a spirit of altruism and a concern for justice. In short, knight errantry was not a profession but a way of behaviour, and a knight errant was simply a man who sought to right wrongs and help people in distress, often by the use of force and in defiance of the law. Such, at least, was the original definition of a knight errant, though later on he somewhat changed his character, in fact and in fiction, as we shall see.
When and how did the knights errant come into being? As far as we can trace, they probably first came into existence during the Warring States period (403-221 B.C.), against a background of political instability, social unrest, and intellectual ferment. It was the period preceding the unification of China by the First Emperor of Ch'in, and the era in which different schools of thought, such as Confucianism, Taoism, Legalism, and Mohism, flourished side by side, each offering a different remedy for the prevailing chaotic conditions. While the thinkers were busy arguing and trying to convert the rulers of various feudal states to their respective ways of thinking, the knights errant simply took justice into their own hands and did what they thought necessary to avenge wrongs and help the poor. Of the knights errant of the Warring States period, we have no detailed accounts. The earliest knights about whose lives we know something in detail belong to the end of the Ch'in dynasty and the beginning of the Han (cir. 200 B.C.). Our information is mainly derived from the Shih chi (£), or
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch
RASHKB and author
Vol. 1 (1961)
ISSN 1991-7295
30
THE KNIGHT ERRANT IN
CHINESE LITERATURE
A lecture delivered on January 23, 1961.
JAMES J. Y. LIU, M.A.
Most Western readers of Chinese literature are probably familiar with such types as the Confucian scholar, the Taoist recluse, the Buddhist monk, the romantic young lady, the intriguing eunuch, and the corrupt official, but there is another important type that is perhaps not so well known to Western readers: the knight errant. I am using the expression "knight errant" because it happens to be a fairly close translation of the Chinese term yu-hsia (#), though this does not imply that the ancient Chinese knight errant resembled the Mediaeval European one in every respect. The Chinese knights were not members of religious orders like the Knights Templars, nor were they members of a caste like the Japanese samurai. Though they often had many followers, they were not highly organized. They differed from professional warriors on the one hand, and mere bandits on the other. The essential qualifications of a knight errant were not so much outstanding physical strength and military skill as a spirit of altruism and a concern for justice. In short, knight errantry was not a profession but a way of behaviour, and a knight errant was simply a man who sought to right wrongs and help people in distress, often by the use of force and in defiance of the law. Such, at least, was the original definition of a knight errant, though later on he somewhat changed his character, in fact and in fiction, as we shall see.
When and how did the knights errant come into being? As far as we can trace, they probably first came into existence during the Warring States period (403-221 B.C.), against a background of political instability, social unrest, and intellectual ferment. It was the period preceding the unification of China by the First Emperor of Ch'in, and the era in which different schools of thought, such as Confucianism, Taoism, Legalism, and Mohism, flourished side by side, each offering a different remedy for the prevailing chaotic conditions. While the thinkers were busy arguing and trying to convert the rulers of various feudal states to their respec- tive ways of thinking, the knights errant simply took justice into their own hands and did what they thought necessary to avenge wrongs and help the poor. Of the knights errant of the Warring States period, we have no detailed accounts. The earliest knights about whose lives we know something in detail belong to the end of the Ch'in dynasty and the beginning of the Han (cir. 200 B.C.). Our information is mainly derived from the Shih chỉ (£), or
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.