The Knight-Errant's Journey

If you ask most people where the idea of the knight-errant originated, they will point to the chapter on knights-errant in Sima Qian's Historical Records, which dates from the Han dynasty, around 2000 years ago. The chapter mentions two knights, Guo Jie and Chu Jia. About the former, Sima Qian writes: "Although his actions were not just, he was true to his word, saw things through, had no fear of death, and helped people in difficulty." These few phrases from Historical Records are perhaps the most concise definition of the Chinese knight-errant.

Knights or scoundrels?

In his history, Sima Qian distinguishes between knights-errant and swordsmen. Swordsmen such as Jing Ke used their blades for their own benefit, unlike knights-errant, who used them selflessly for the general good. But did the knights-errant really sacrifice themselves out of love for all mankind?

According to Kung Peng-cheng, president of Fo Guang University, "Guo Jie and Chu Jia were not typical Han-dynasty knights-errant." Kung, who is versed in the lore of the knight-errant, explains that the early knights were not particularly just. But in Kung's view, historians have a duty to guide people to an appreciation of historical figures' attributes. Thus, Historical Records attempts to find value in each class of person described, relating their significance regardless of their flaws. Hence most are atypical. For example, the book tells of the famed doctor Pian Que, whose healing touch was unmatched by the other doctors of his day. Similarly, it was possible to write about the positive attributes of Guo Jie and Chu Jia, but most of the "knights-errant" of the day were scoundrels that the Historical Records does not deign to mention.

"These early knights-errant were largely bandits and rich oppressors of the peasantry," says Kung. Sima Qian "selected two relative paragons of virtue from among this group."

Because they were armed, the knights-errant were a potential threat to the social order. Consequently, once the Han dynasty had established itself, it set out on an ultimately unsuccessful campaign to eradicate them.

The legend goes on

Clearly, the knights-errant of ancient times were not all cut from the same cloth. In fact, the meaning of the term "knight-errant" is itself rather complicated. But people have selective memories. While there are few examples of knights-errant with an overriding interest in justice, our recollection of one or two positive attributes dominates our image of these figures. The way we remember selfless Guo Jie and forget his more ruthless contemporaries is a case in point. When people feel oppressed, such idealization is still more common, and whenever China has been in decline the image of knight-errants has waxed bright in the popular mind. In such times, people naturally honor a wandering knight who kills on behalf of the powerless.

Yuan Jiegang, a scholar of the early Republican era, described the waxing and waning of the knight-errant's image as follows: Knights-errant were common people who had usurped the power to kill. This could not be tolerated by the imperial authorities. At its height, the Han dynasty sought to eliminate the knights-errant, and their fighting spirit was quickly broken. But the collapse of a dynasty precipitated a number of events-destabilization of authority, a crumbling legal system, a breakdown in morality and the class system-making it much easier for an individual to step outside of the social fabric. In such times, the knights-errant once again walked the empire.

At the end of the Wei-Jin period, with new dynasties lasting but a few years and the country ravaged by war, the ranks of the knights-errant grew tremendously. But, again, these knights were of all sorts, and it is difficult to be certain whether they were mere opportunists profiting from the country's misfortune, or noble figures loyal to the nation and its people. In fact, it is hard to generalize about them at all. In the Three Kingdoms period, Cao Cao is said to have spent his youth as a knight-errant, but seems to have done little more than go gallivanting about the country sowing his wild oats. Cao Cao's travels were on a par with those of any other young wanderer. It was only after he joined the loyalist army to put down the Yellow Scarves Rebellion and seized control of the court that he became known as one of the "heroes" of the day.

In fact, it wasn't until the Tang dynasty that the notion of justice became a more common piece of the wandering knight's baggage. As the concept of the knight-errant began to develop along more positive lines, a strong sense of justice became central to the image and the popular imagination whitewashed over the darker history of the knights.

The age of chivalry

At the peak of the Tang dynasty, the mood of the country was expansive. Han Chinese and barbarians intermingled and the capital Chang-an was one of the world's greatest cities. However, in those days military prowess was prized over skill in the arts. As a result, many among the literati took to referring to themselves as knights-errant. In literature, knights-errant made the leap from bit part to leading man, and the "champion of justice" became one of the three main themes of Tang romances. According to Kung Peng-cheng, "The people of the Tang dynasty consciously took the Han image of the wandering knight as someone who did not follow the path of justice and turned it around, making him into a heroic figure equally versed in military matters and the arts."

In addition, as the concept of the Taoist immortal worked its way into romantic literature, the knight-errant's martial arts became more and more fantastic. Stories of magical "sword immortals" like the legendary Lu Dongbin added fuel to the fire. Knights-errant metamorphosed into mysterious figures able to fly and cast illusions who would finish their opponents by cutting off their heads. Having wrought their vengeance, repaid their debt, and saved the world or rescued the damsel in distress, the knight-errant would depart for destinations unknown, happy to be free of human society again.

In contrast to the Tang dynasty, the Song and Ming saw China frequently embroiled in domestic and foreign troubles. Making matters worse were corrupt governments and numerous natural disasters. In such circumstances, it was only natural for stories of knights-errant bringing justice to the people to grow in popularity.

Outlaws of the Marsh, considered by many to be China's greatest chivalric romance, actually dates from this period. Although the book was compiled by Shi Naiyan in the late Yuan and early Ming, these tales of 108 "bandits" battling a corrupt government from their mountain hideout had been in circulation since the Song.

A sword and a flute

In the midst of the collapse of the Song, neo-Confucian scholars proposed a Confucian revival as the means to national salvation. But the neo-Confucians' ethical teachings made them come across as pedants. Knights-errant, on the other hand, combined the learning of the Confucians with a backbone of steel. These two sides of the knight-errant were represented by the flute and the sword. As Lin Pao-chun, a professor of Chinese literature at Tamkang University puts it, "The flute symbolized literature and the arts, while the sword represented his unbending character. These two aspects were complementary and later became symbolic of the ideal character." This ideal was gradually concretized through literature and song, so that in later chivalric novels the protagonists were equally adept at martial arts and belles-lettres.

It is often said that heroes are products of the age in which they live. China underwent tough times during the Ming. It was raided by pirates in the dynasty's middle years, and was eventually overrun by Manchurians who established their own dynasty. As a result, people prized military prowess. Even the literati took up the study of strategy and joined the army. Qi Jiguang and Yu Dayou, for example, were scholar-generals well versed in both the martial and fine arts. In addition, several important Confucian scholars were steeped in the art of war and produced important works on the martial arts. Says Kung Peng-cheng, "This was a key period in the development of Chinese martial arts and military strategy. It was in this period, for example, that Huang Zongxi first mentions internal kung fu." Kung, himself a trained martial artist, notes that tai chi and Shaolin kung fu were developed, promoted and written about in the Ming and early Qing. All the attention lavished on the martial arts inspired many more people to study them and provided abundant material for later writers of chivalric novels.

A pure heart

However, the mixing of chivalry with Confucianism further altered the concept of the knight-errant, as can be seen in the debate over whether the heroes of Outlaws of the Marsh should be considered knights-errant. Kung Peng-cheng explains: "The heroes of Outlaws of the Marsh killed people in the blink of an eye, which makes it difficult to comment on their morality. Were they simply ruffians, or were they standing up to ruffians? In contrast, moral dilemmas are an important aspect of later Chinese chivalric novels."

Lin Pao-chun says, "Before Historical Records, Chinese military strategy had absorbed the idea of ruling with compassion, and the highest objective of the student of the martial arts was to eliminate the violence in his own heart. Lin expands on this point, stating that in the ethos of the knight-errant, magnanimity was more important than fighting skill. Moreover, knights-errant were expected to be ethical, moral, honorable, decorous and patriotic, as well as protecting the common folk. Burdened by such responsibilities, how was a knight to be dashing too?

These ideas affected the ways in which writers chose to present knights-errant in their novels. Says Lin, "At the most fundamental level, knights-errant are supposed to embody moral virtue. So while a writer might allow his hero to be less than perfect in some small ways, he will always stand fast when faced with an issue or choice of consequence."

Dilemmas

The popularity of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon prompted the re-release of He Jing Kunlun, the novel on which the film is based. However, unlike the film, the novel devotes a great deal of space to hero Li Mu Bai's struggle with the problem of propriety versus feelings. Li loves Yu Shu Lian, the widow of his long-dead friend Meng Si Zhao. His feelings are reciprocated, but Li is indecisive. On the one hand, he is concerned that he would be sacrificing honor for love because it would be completely inappropriate to marry the widow of a friend. On the other hand, he can't get Yu Shu Lian out of his head and is becoming sloppily sentimental. As one fan of the genre put it, "It's unbelievably trite." Others comment that, unlike most heroes of the genre, Li Mu Bai gives his emotions little rein.

But such ethical dilemmas are at the heart of modern mainstream chivalric novels. Kung Peng-cheng says, "The better-written Chinese chivalric romances all involve this sort of personal dilemma. On the one hand, knights-errant are carefree, traveling the world with a sword at their side, killing whomsoever they please. But over time, ethical demands begin to limit their options and make killing more difficult."

Kung comments that chivalric novels always involve the resolution of the knight's personal ethical dilemmas. A knight-errant caught up in such a dilemma cannot give full rein to his courage. He lacks zest and spirit, and becomes dull in comparison to the amoral characters around him who love and hate in full measure. In Louis Cha's novels, for example, Zhang Wuji, Linghu Chong and Yang Guo constantly vacillate, struggling with right and wrong. For Kung, "The minor characters who dare to love and hate, such as Zhao Mei, Ren Yingying and Xiao Long Nu, are much more interesting."

Knightly love

Nonetheless, the wandering knights of the stories get into all sorts of romantic predicaments. Ti Yi, the author of a number of chivalric novels, says this is because the novels were originally serialized in the newspapers. The longer and more overblown they were, the better. As a result, these knights-errant spend little time cultivating their lonely, tragic air through long, solitary journeys, singing sad songs, or practicing their swordcraft in the dead of night.

Lin Pao-chun notes, "Especially from the late Qing dynasty onwards, chivalric novels began to incorporate love stories." Lin, who has also examined changes in the roles of the female knights-errant, says that female characters were as common as male in the early days of the genre. However, the early female characters were cold and righteous, rarely behaving in a more feminine fashion. For example, the Tang dynasty story of Nie Yin Niang tells how she puts off killing Lord Liao Xinong after seeing his child. A Buddhist nun berates her, saying, "The next time you meet him, you will first kill what he loves, then kill him." Buddhism, with its doctrine of reincarnation, was very influential in the Tang dynasty, leading to female characters who not only easily killed what others loved, but also what they themselves loved. All the way up to Shisan Mei of the Ming dynasty's Tales of Male and Female Heroes, the female characters in these stories were noble and upstanding to a fault.

After Gu Mingdao wrote Huang Jiang Nuxia in the late Qing, female knights-errant once again began to walk the martial-arts world. But this time around, their presence gradually reshaped that world. Influenced by the Yuanyang Hudie school of early Republican literature, authors of new chivalric novels wrote about the feelings of their female protagonists. This in turn led to descriptions of the innermost thoughts and feelings of the male knights-errant. Says Lin Pao-chun, "Not only did male knights acquire more feminine attributes, they also realized that love was part of their lives."

Lin also notes that Wang Du Lu's five-volume He Jing Kunlun, of which the Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon story forms a part, is widely seen as the best of the early Republican novels about a knight-errant torn by his feelings. Lin says, "Wang Du Lu led the way in combining the knight's steel-hard resolve with gentler feelings. Whatever else his novels may have achieved, they pioneered a new direction in the genre." To Lin, Wang's heroes aren't supermen, and they never really come across as knights-errant. Instead, they are flawed, indecisive, bookish men, more literate than pugnacious. But readers approved of the "humanization" of the Li Mu Bai character, and, in his day, Wang Du Lu was one of the best-known writers of the genre. Ang Lee says the reason he chose to adapt the Crouching Tiger story to film was that he felt sympathy for Li Mu Bai's difficulties, whereas he can't work up any enthusiasm for the knights-errant of most chivalric novels.

So, one might say the knights-errant we admire are talented but frustrated scholarly types because everyone has troubles in their lives. Seemingly, their nobility and bravery are just figments of the imaginations of people in the workaday world, and the only place to find a "true" knight-errant is on the page or screen.