Youxia
Youxia | |
---|---|
Hanyu Pinyin | yóuxiá |
Wade–Giles | yu2-hsia2 |
IPA | [jǒʊɕjǎ] |
Yue: Cantonese | |
Jyutping | jau4 hap6 |
Southern Min | |
Hokkien POJ | iû-kiap |
Youxia (
Background
Of the two characters of the term, yóu (遊) literally means to "wander", "travel" or "move around", and xiá (俠) means someone with power who helps others in need. The term refers to the way these solitary men travelled the land using physical force or political influence to right the wrongs done to the common people by
According to Dr. James J. Y. Liu (1926–1986), a professor of Chinese and comparative literature at Stanford University, it was a person's temperament and need for freedom, not their social status, that caused them to roam the land and help those in need. Dr. Liu believes this is because a large majority of these figures came from northern China, which borders the territory of "northern nomadic tribes, whose way of life stressed freedom of movement and military virtues". Many knights seem to have come from Hebei and Henan provinces. A large majority of the characters from the Water Margin, which is considered one of China's best examples of knight-errant literature, come from these provinces.[4]
In poetry
One good example of Youxia poetry is The Swordsman (劍客) by Jia Dao (Tang dynasty):
- ^ extremely sharp edge
According to Dr. Liu, Jia's poem "seems...to sum up the spirit of knight-errantry in four lines. At the same time, one can also take it as a reflection of the desire of all those who have prepared themselves for years to put their abilities to the test for some justice."[5]
A metric translation of the original Chinese poem with one iamb per Chinese character[6] reads as follows:
A decade long I honed a single sword,
Its steel-cold blade still yet to test its song.
Today I hold it out to you, my lord,
and ask: "Who seeks deliverance from a wrong?"
Analogous concepts
- Bogatyr in Russia
- Futuwwa in Middle East
- Fianna in Ireland
- Knight-errant in Europe
- Roninin Japan
- Sae Sok O-Gyein Korea
See also
- Gan Ning
- Wang Mi
- Li Bai
- Song Jiang
- Tang Yin
- Wuxia
- Zhou Tong (archer)
- The Seven Heroes and Five Gallants
References
- ^ Liu, James J. Y. The Chinese Knight Errant. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1967, p. xii.
- ISBN 1134691149.
- ISBN 0520048040.
- ISBN 7-119-01662-8)
- ^ a b Liu, p. 68.
- ^ Tian Min, 2020. Medium article.
External links
- The Knight-errant in Chinese literature, a 12-page paper by James J.Y. Liu. (accessed 12-20-2008)