Jianghu Hero Qiao Feng
Ancient Chinese chivalrous culture appeared in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, and the spirit and strength represented by chivalry in resisting the strong were highly worshiped and admired by the people. In the chaotic world, people are eager for a hero to fall from the sky and save themselves from the water and fire. However, because the profession of chivalry is highly dangerous, and there are high requirements for personal physical fitness and martial arts, in people's impressions, the image of chivalry is male, but with the development of chivalrous culture, the image of female chivalry has gradually emerged.
The Spring and Autumn Warring States period was an era of turmoil, but also an era in which the weak preyed on the strong. The name of chivalrous guest is popular in the world, starting from Cao Mo, a chivalrous guest of Lu Guo. At that time, the State of Lu was facing the pressure of the Qi army, and the State of Lu sent Cao Mo to send an envoy to the State of Qi, and when Cao Mo met with the Duke of Qi Huan, he directly rushed up and took a dagger to kidnap the King of Qi, and the State of Qi was forced to retreat and return the lost land of the State of Lu. Since then, the social status of chivalrous guests has greatly improved.
Cao Mo in film and television dramas
In the Warring States period, the secretaries of state of the various countries were even more popular in the style of raising soldiers, and the four sons of the Warring States led by Meng Yijun raised thousands of soldiers to serve their political activities, such as assassinations. At the end of the Warring States period, there was Jing Ke who stabbed the King of Qin, and Jing Ke was a chivalrous guest under the Dan Gate of the Prince of Yan. In the folk, the Mo family of the Hundred Sons is also regarded as a very chivalrous spirit, Mr. Lu Xun once said: "The disciples of Confucius are Confucians, and the disciples of Mozi are heroes." Because the Mo family advocates "both love and non-attack", pays attention to the people at the bottom of society, and has established a hierarchical organization to specialize in chivalrous things to help the needy. Therefore, the Mo family acts with chivalrous colors.
Jing Ke in film and television dramas
The earliest female heroine story appeared in the Eastern Han Dynasty "Wu Yue Chunqiu" in the "Yue Nu Test Sword". The background of the story is that in the late Spring and Autumn Period, Wu Yue was fighting for hegemony, and the Yue King was defeated by Wu Shi, and then he tried to take revenge. At this time, fan li, a courtier, recommended to him a high-ranking woman who lived in seclusion in Nanshan. The weapon used by this Yue woman was not an ordinary weapon, but a bamboo shoot, and the Yue King sent the famous swordsman Yuan Gong to duel with him, but Yuan Gong was soon defeated. Yue Nu told Yue Wang that her strength lay in her sword skills, not weapons, and said that her sword skills could be "one person should be a hundred, and a hundred people should be a thousand". So the Yue King asked the Yue Nu to teach her sword skills to the army. In the end, the swordsmanship of Professor Yue became the key to the victory of Yue Guo over Wu Guo.
Unfortunately, Wu Yue Chunqiu's account of Yue Nu is very brief. Aside from knowing that she was a reclusive virgin with skilled swordsmanship, her identity, age, experience, etc. were not stated. It shows that the image of the heroine that appeared in this period is still very single.
Stills from "The Legend of the Yue Women"
The "Book of Searching for Gods", which was written in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, also records a story of "Li Ji Beheading snakes". The story takes place in the minzhong region, where a large python appears and requires a girl from the township to be offered as a sacrifice every year. One year, near the time of the sacrifice, a young girl named Li Ji volunteered. After getting ready, Li Ji went to find the big snake. In the face of the big snake, she first used the honey stick to attract the attention of the snake, and then let the dog bite the big snake, and then she took the opportunity to raise her sword to end the big snake. Li Ji's act of eliminating harm for the villagers was praised by the villagers, and he was called "heroine" by the villagers. But the heroine mentioned here is more of a praise for her heroic behavior, and there is still a certain distance from the traditional meaning of "chivalry". In short, during the Wei and Jin Dynasties, although some heroic and extraordinary female figures were constructed, both the story and the image were relatively thin.
The Tang Dynasty gave rise to a kind of legendary novel, strictly speaking, China's martial arts novels originated from the Tang legend. The emergence of Tang legends has a profound social background, after the Tang Dynasty Anshi Rebellion, the feudal towns were divided, and wars often broke out, so the chivalrous spirit was respected. In order to cater to this psychology of the people, many literati began to devote themselves to the creation of legendary novels. So in the late Tang Dynasty, chivalrous novels emerged, including many women with distinct personalities.
Anshi Rebellion
At the same time, the status of women in the Tang Dynasty was greatly improved compared with the previous generation. Because the etiquette of the Tang Dynasty was not very strict, and the restraints on women were not very severe, women could be active in different identities on different occasions. In the eyes of men in the Tang Dynasty, women had a certain degree of independence. So there are women with distinct personalities.
The most famous female hero in the Tang legend was Nie Yinniang. Nie Yinniang was born as a shogun, but when she was young, she was hit by the gods and nuns because of her skeleton Qingqi and stole them from the palace. Shenni took her to the sacred mountain to cultivate and gave her a elixir, and she has been equipped with fairy bones since then, and she will always maintain the appearance of youth. Of course, the most important thing is that Nie Yinniang trained hard, the sword she used was a divine soldier who cut iron like mud, and it was because she practiced hard that the blade of the sword was worn off by 5 inches.
Nie Yinniang
Five years later, Nie Yinniang returned home. But soon after, her father died. In order to survive, she turned to the Wei Bo Jiedushi, whom her father served before his death. Later, Marshal Wei Bo ordered her to assassinate her enemy Chen Xujiedu (陳許節度) liu Changyi, but during the assassination, Nie Yinniang discovered that this person was a good official, so she gave up the action.
After Nie Yinniang stopped assassinating, Liu Changyi still faced assassinations by other assassins. At this time, the story ushered in a climax, and two women with magic skills, Miao'er and Jingjing'er, came to assassinate one after another and fought with Nie Yinniang. These two people have strong skills, especially "the magic of the empty child, people can not spy on its use, ghosts can not creep their tracks." Can go from emptiness to obscurity, invisible and extinguished." However, Nie Yinniang was still skilled, and eventually caused Kongkong Er to flee in shame and defeat, while Jingjing Er was turned into thick water by her use of immortality.
The story design of Nie Yinniang's abandonment of assassination and efforts to protect Liu Changyi is actually the embodiment of the author's respect for The Tang Central. In the late Tang Dynasty, the town was divided, and the most joyful of the towns was the town of Wei Bo in the story. Nie Yinniang's move can be described as abandoning the dark and casting light. This is actually an eternal theme of chivalrous novels, that is, chivalrous people generally have the concept of home country, and the real chivalrous ultimately belongs to the country.
Nie Yinniang finally chose to go into hiding, which is the standard ending of ancient Chinese chivalrous novels. Especially in Mr. Jin Yong's novels, Yang Guo and Xiaolongnü returned to the Hidden Rivers and Lakes, leaving behind the legend of "after the end of the South Mountain, the tomb of the living dead, the divine eagle hero, and the extinct jianghu". In "Smiling Proud of the Jianghu", Ling Hu Chong and Ren Yingying eventually went into hiding. These patterns of wuxia novel writing were influenced by The Taoist hermitage, and this influence began in the Tang Dynasty.
Yang Guo and Xiaolongnü
In the story of the female heroes of the Tang Dynasty, the image of women has changed greatly, and the biggest change is that women break away from tradition. The female heroines are all strange women, and the author deliberately removes the shackles of the three from the four virtues and other etiquette concepts to women. For example, in Nie Yinniang's story, there is no mention of her appearance, only that her martial arts and sword skills are strong, changing the image of a woman's weakness. Nie Yinniang's transformation from a female assassin with a mission and a goal to a female chivalrous guest who seeks justice actually symbolizes the awakening of women's self-awareness.
However, if we delve into the storyline, we will find that the writer of the story of the female hero is still a man, a scholar cultivated under the Tang Dynasty's imperial examination system, so the spiritual depth of the female hero, her values are still a reflection of the male spiritual world. For example, Nie Yinniang's final retreat, such as her admiration and loyalty to Liu Changyi, and the care of Liu Chang's descendants after his death, these are more in line with the kind of moral and ethical norms followed by male scholars at that time.
However, we cannot ignore the huge progress of women's awakening in the Tang legend, and the author of the Tang legend novel felt the strong performance of the women of that era, and paid attention to, affirmed and understood, and left the historical traces of the awakened women with his own pen.
Cao Wenzheng: A History of Chinese Chivalrous Culture, Shanghai Literature and Art Publishing House, 1994.
Hu Li: "Research on the Image of a Female Heroine in Tang Dynasty Novels", Master's Thesis of Shanxi Normal University, 2008.
Guo Dinghan: "Research on the Transmutation of Nie Yinniang's Image", Master's Thesis of Tibet University, 2019.
(Author: Haoran Wenshi Rotten Keren)
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