A Study Of "Hero" And "Knight Errant" From The Pre-Qin To The Two Han Dynasties

The classical Chinese concept of "hero" matured in the Han and Wei dynasties,but the figure of "hero" already appeared as early as the Warring States period.They were the elite in the military field and took on the important role of defending the territory in a time of conquest.Since the early Qin Dynasty,the military meaning of "heroes" has diminished and the political meaning has gradually increased,with "heroes" playing an important role in national political activities.From the pre-Qin to the Han and Wei dynasties,"heroes" showed outstanding characteristics such as boldness,wisdom and courage,outstanding talent,and amorality,and evolved into a unique cultural group.The "Knight errant" also began in the Warring States,with the negative image of "attacking and killing with swords","violating the ban with martial arts" and "not doing anything productive".They wandered around in the special historical period when the laws and regulations were sparse or out of order,and when rites and music were in disarray,and were especially active during the change of dynasties.The "heroes" and "Knight errant" emerged in similar times,and they both shone in the atmosphere of imperial decline,moral looseness,providing two important literary themes and imagery for later literati.This paper focuses on the forms of "heroes" and "Knight errant" in historical contexts,exploring the overlaps and differences between them in terms of temperament,behavior and trajectory of destiny,in order to provide a deeper understanding of the images of "heroes" and "Knight errant" in literary creation.The first chapter compares the flow of "heroes" and "Knight errant" in the pre-Qin and Han dynasties.During the pre-Qin period,the "heroes" in the Liu Tao and other codices referred to military talents and showed their ability to govern.At the turn of the two Han dynasties,Ban Biao’s Wang Ming Lun first discussed the entanglement between"heroes" and emperors.At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty,The Book of Heroes shows the group of "heroes" in a chaotic world.From the pre-Qin period to the end of the Han Dynasty,the "heroes" underwent changes in form as elite warriors,ruling ministers,auxiliary talents and ruling hegemons,and as a whole showed the characteristics of outstanding talent,both civil and military,and neglect of morality.As far as the extant literature is concerned,the Han Feizi is the first record of the"Knight errant",and Han Fei’s description of the Knight errant’s forbidden behavior laid the foundation for the Knight errant’s rejection by the feudal regime.Han "Fei’s descriptions of the "Knight errant" behavior set the tone for the survival of the "Knight errant",who were rejected by the feudal regime;the Historical Records of the first and middle Western Han Dynasty continued to enrich it,and Sima Qian explained in depth the values of "Knight errant",who saved the poor and helped the needy and were modest and retiring.In the early Han Dynasty,Ban Gu’s Hanshu and Xun Yue’s Hanji of the late Eastern Han Dynasty show the transformation of the "Knight errant" into a "thief of virtue",and build the overall trajectory of the prosperity and decline of the "Knight errant" in the succession of time.The second chapter looks for the commonalities between the "heroes" and the"Knight errant" in terms of temperament and behavior.Both "hero" and "chivalrous"come from the "Shi" group in the pre-Qin Dynasty,and have obvious homology.The"heroes" recorded in historical texts are also mostly known as chivalrous,which confirms the high correlation between "heroes" and "Knight errant".In terms of temperament,both"heroes" and "Knight errant" have an obvious martial temperament.The "hero" showed the pursuit of bravery through the immersion of military needs,social laws,and etiquette,while the "Knight errant" was injected with the cultural gene of "making strong with martial arts" at the early stage of its birth.In terms of behavior,both "heroes" and "Knight errant" were not confined to orthodox morality.Since the turn of the Han Dynasty,"heroes" have been interpreted as a few elites who are good at literature and martial arts and question the king’s orders.The "heroes" recorded in the Book of Heroes all show obvious ideological tendencies that deviate from orthodox morality,such as the desire for profit and the lack of grace.The different perspectives from which historians interpreted the "Knight errant" show that the "Knight errant" showed a complex ecology of both good and evil in their style of action,which can be divided into the dual character of individual"Knight errant",the "Knight errant" who showed The dual character of the individual"Knight errant",the great contrast between the "Knight errant" before and after joining the government,and the internal division of the "Knight errant" group between doing good and evil can be discussed;in terms of activity space,both the "hero" and the "Knight errant" are in the same position.In terms of space of activity,both "heroes" and "warriors"were active at the turn of the chaotic times.In the critical period of the change of governance and chaos,various military groups competed to recruit "heroes" to expand their power,providing a broad platform for "heroes" to play and grow,creating the more common "heroes in chaotic times" in the traditional Chinese cultural context.heroes of the chaotic world" in the traditional Chinese cultural context.The "Knight errant" were used to raise the flag of righteousness at the time of dynastic changes,and they were active in overthrowing the old system at the time of the Qin and Han dynasties,at the turn of the two Han dynasties and at the end of the Eastern Han dynasty.The special linkage between the "Knight errant" and the troubled times can be seen.Chapter 3 explores the differences in the inherent endowments of the "heroes" and the "Knight errant" from the perspective of their different destinies.Although there is an overlap between "hero" and "Knight errant",there are also obvious differences: in terms of composition,the core component of "hero" is the comprehensive ability of both civil and martial arts.In terms of composition,the core component of "hero" is the comprehensive ability of both civil and martial arts,which is characterized by elite quality,while "Knight errant" is characterized by the behavior of helping people in danger and helping people in need,valuing righteousness over death,and not focusing on the emphasis of specific ability;in terms of interest,"hero" is still wise and brave to establish a career,while "ranger The "hero" is wise and brave to establish a career,while the"wanderer" shows off his spirit in order to quicken his revenge.This difference foreshadows the different destinies of the two,the elitist nature of the "heroes" leads to the variation of their attributes in the process of development,evolving beyond the rank of "auxiliary minister" to that of "quasi-emperor," and in the internal ecology of militancy and jealousy and external competition.In the process of their development,they evolved beyond the rank of "auxiliary minister" to "quasi-emperor",and were gradually eliminated from the minority to the singular in the internal ecology of militancy and jealousy and the external competition of eliminating the weak and keeping the strong,becoming "emperors" or being framed as "traitors".In view of the ruling class’ s complex perception of the"Knight errant",the space for the "Knight errant" was often squeezed,and more often survived in special periods or spaces where the legal system was omitted and the regime did not reach.Lacking the military strength and political acumen to confront the system as the "heroes" did,the "Knight errant" showed a divergent trajectory of completely disappearing into the jianghu or actively integrating into the feudal system.Finally,the paper also summarizes the transformation of the literary images of"heroes" and "Knight errant" after the two Han dynasties.Although "heroes" had obvious neglect of morality during the two Han dynasties,later literary creations mostly portrayed"heroes" as positive figures who built the frontier and defended the country,indicating that "heroes The "hero" has undergone a "rectification" in literary writing.After the two Han dynasties,the "Knight errant" also became the object of chanting,and the related creative works not only depicted the classic images of the young "Knight errant" and the warrior of righteousness,but also idealized and transformed the "Knight errant",giving the "Knight errant" an idealized image.The idealized transformation of the "Knight errant" gave the "Knight errant" a strong sense of merit,showing the merging of the"heroic" and "Knight errant" traits in literature.