The Wheel of Life

The Chinese Knights of Errant were at first simply men of strong will and independent character, who tried to see justice done by the use of force. They embodied the spirit of individualism and protested against any attempt at rigid regimentation. Later, popular imagination pictured them as great champions of the common people against the oppression of corrupt officials, and often attributed supernatural powers to them. This partly reflected the wishful thinking of the oppressed people for some miraculous savior. Still later, by a stroke of irony, the Knights of Errant became guardians of the law and protectors of the rich. However, the basic ideals of knight-errantry remained unchanged. No knight-errant worthy of the name would have helped a corrupt official or robbed the poor. Compared with Mediaeval European knights, the Chinese ones are more independent and less bound by a code of behavior. Instead of being courteous to men, gallant to ladies, and devout in religion, they tend to be free and easy. That is perhaps why in Chinese literature knight-errantry has not been endowed with such allegorical significance as we find in Western chivalric literature. The nearest equivalent in the West to the Chinese yu-hsia is probably Robin Hood.