[
    {
        "id": 204266,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1961",
        "page_number": 34,
        "title": "RAS-1961",
        "content_text": "Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch\n\nRASHKB and author\n\nVol. 1 (1961)\n\nISSN 1991-7295\n\n30\n\nTHE KNIGHT ERRANT IN\n\nCHINESE LITERATURE\n\nA lecture delivered on January 23, 1961.\n\nJAMES J. Y. LIU, M.A.\n\nMost 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.\n\nWhen 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",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1961.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/vd6724704",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 215700,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-2001",
        "page_number": 477,
        "title": "RAS-2001",
        "content_text": "430\n\nBOOK REVIEWS\n\nVerner Bickley, Searching for Frederick and adventures along the way, with a foreword by Sir James Hodge, Asia 2000 Ltd. (2001), pp. 418, $195.\n\nMost readers will be familiar with the trend in the movie industry towards making movies about movies, for example The Making of Forest Gump, The Making of Apollo 13, and so on.\n\nSearching for Frederick\n\nThis is, essentially, what Searching for Frederick and adventures along the way is all about. The book is an account of the research done by Verner and his wife Gillian into the life and times of Frederick Stewart (1836-1889) culminating in the publication of Gillian's book The Golden Needle: The Biography of Frederick Stewart (1836-1889) in 1997 (reviewed in JHKBRAS, Vol. 38).\n\nThe Golden Needle was an excellent book and a lot of effort has gone into Searching for Frederick as well. I'm told that it's Verner's first book - outside of textbooks, that is - and it has been written in a belletristic style.\n\nVerner's command of the English language is superb as well it might be because, amongst his many accomplishments, he is Chairman of the English-Speaking Union in Hong Kong.\n\nThe book is a '...guide to processes of historical and biographical research for family historians and for those interested in “life-writing,” history and language education. The book...introduces the reader to certain libraries, archives, record offices, societies and other repositories, and explains how to use, join or contact them.' There's also a lot of peripheral information included as well.\n\nIn his foreword, Sir James Hodge states in part: 'Verner Bickley writes in a mostly light-hearted vein, with a gentle humour, whether about the loss of a much-loved pair of cotton socks or his 'wig.' The book is peopled with astrologers, landladies, hoteliers and others and takes the reader on a trail after Stewart, with many diversions including the Knights Templar, Culloden, whiskey distilleries, 'Seven Deadly",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2001.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g",
        "rank": 0
    }
]