Chinese Chivalry and Western Knight Spirit
Chinese chivalry which has long history in China is an important element of traditional Chinese culture, and Western knight spirit which has much the same as Chinese chivalry is also flowering in the Middle Ages. These two cultural spirits have showed themselves in two very important works named the Sir Gawain and the Green knight which is known as a masterpiece of the European romantic verse and Heroes of the Marshes which is one of the Four Masterpiece in China.
Both the Chinese knight-errants and Western knights have the spirits as generosity, braveness, honesty. However, since they have different historical and social backgrounds, they have many differences in various aspects.
The Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a masterpiece of the English romantic verse. It has 2529 lines with the author unknown; it has been finished in the 14th century. The story is as follows: on a Christmas Eve, when the king Arthur held a banquet in his place, a green knight came and said that whether there was someone who dared to his head and accept his revenge a year later. Sir Gawain rose to the challenge and cut the green knights head; the still-lived body picked his head up and returned his green palace. One year later, when Sir Gawain searched for the green knight as had promised, he stayed in a castle. The hostess of the castle seduced Sir Gawain when her husband was out, but Sir Gawain did not give response to her. Finally, Sir Gawain left the castle for the green palace led by a guide. To his surprise, the green knight was the host of the castle, the attacked Sir Gawain three times, but the first two did not hurt Sir Gawain and the last one only left a small scar on Sir Gawains neck. The green knight explained to him: the first two empty-attacks were the reward for his integrity and the last one is the punishment for his accepting the hostesss present---a girdle. After returning the king Arthurs palace, Sir Gawain told the others his experience, call the other knights considered him as a hero and regarded the girdle which was given by the hostess as a symbol of chastity and holiness.
The Sir Gawain and the Green knight is a great work which does not only describe the aristocrat life but also gives high praise of the knights braveness and sense of honor. In the 14th century when the feudalism was declining this story was written to reaffirm the ideal of the chivalry. The spirit corn of the knight is as follow: to be loyal to monarch, to protect the church, and to help those who need their help. The knight should not only be loyal to the Christianity but also protect the county, the castles and those hostesses and lord-ladies. All these characters make up of the so-called chivalry.
Heroes of the Marshes which is written by Shi Naian is one of the Four masterpieces in China; it is about an uprising which happened in the end of the Northern song Dynasty. Because of the corruption of the government, Song Jiang led the peasants fight against the government and became the leader in Liang Shan. The story of the 108 Liang Shan heroes is known to all Chinese people; it tells about the reason and process of the 108 heroes going to Liang Shan and the beginning, process and ending of the uprising, after many hard battles with the government army, the 108 heroes finally surrendered. Although the uprising was failed, the charm which had been showed in Heroes of the Marshes became the chivalry spirit of those outlaws. All the behaviors of the heroes show the chivalry spirit of traditional Chinese folk culture.
In Heroes of the Marshes we can find some kind of folk color which is a very important part of traditional Chinese folk culture. All the heroes in the marshes they are willing to help others with no care of return, and they are always ready to die for the benefit of the majority, it is said that bawcock is a person who strict to principle, always ready to help others, and help those who need his help. The worship of the chivalry spirit in Heroes of the Marshes reflects the common peoples psychology. They hated the corruption and the dark government; they thought it was justified to those outlaws to rob the rich and those government officials. Heroes in Liang Shan are all from common people, they are representatives of the average. They hate those dignitaries and dark government; what they want is to build a new world where there is no oppression or exploitation.
The Chinese chivalry and Western knight spirit have many similarities as well as difference when concerned about their emergence conditions.
Western knight spirit is a kind of to noble culture while the Chinese knight-errant spirit is a reflection of underground culture in which a group of outlaws carry their activities into execution secretly. In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Knights appearance is the need of the government; they always became members of the government officials and are respected by others. Sir Gawain was just such a person; he was loyal to King Authur and finally got the honor as a knight hero. While in China, knight-errants appearance is the need of folks. Because of the governments darkness, they had to become members of the 108 outlaws. They wanted to do something for the country, but the dark government made it impossible. Finally, they realized they fight against that corrupting government was a right decision and its good for Chinese people. When come across society and ones living, many people had no choice but to fight for a better life. This is the fate of Chinese knight-errant.
In short, the main condition for the emergence of the Western knights is the turbulent world, their appearance is the need of government; while the main emergence condition for the Chinese knight-errants is the turbulent political situation, their appearance is against governments need.
Both the western knight spirits and Chinese Chivalry have great influence on their own society. Western knights were important members of the western world in the Middle Ages. Westerners are always considered as gentlemen; they always hold the principle that lady should go first; this has direct relation with the knights attitude towards love, their behaviors are the standard of those ideal real men. Western knight spirit also lies in the aspect of military affairs; it has great impact on todays military. However, although the Chinese Chivalry is a kind of common people culture, it affects the Chinese people deeply in the aspects of obligation, revenge loyalty, and death and so on. Even today these precious spirit cultures have great influence on the society and they are believed to continue being in future.
Nowadays, in a modern legal society, the research and analysis of these two important spirits are greatly significant in the culture communication and culture construction. If these two cultures can learn from each other, they may have great good influence on todays society. Todays legal society is not so completed and it has important sense to advocate the spirit of being brave and integrity. And this kind of wish is not inordinate in any times.
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