Chivalry (I): A Humble Beginning in Ancient China

On November 14, 2020, Stephen Ellison, the newly appointed British consul-general in Chongqing, was visiting a nearby tourist attraction when he saw a young woman drowning in the river. Without hesitation, he dived in and saved her life. The video clip of his brave action went viral and he received copious praise. He was presented with the Chongqing Special Award for Justice and Courage and 50,000 yuan ($7,600) by The Chongqing Foundation for Justice and Courage. He donated the money to a local charity. 

Justice and courage are probably the core of Chinese values with a long history, referred to as xia (侠), or chivalry. A chivalrous hero is expected to be willing and strong enough to help people where official justice or relief is not accessible. Xia, especially wuxia（武侠）which means xia with martial arts like kung fu, is a very popular part of Chinese culture. It would be too late to wait for the police to come to the rescue of the drowning woman. The 61-year old gentleman did not hesitate to save her life. He was the champion for his age group at the Beijing International Triathlon in 2019, which involved swimming, running and cycling. His willingness and a sort of “kung fu” of saving a stranger in danger no doubt fits the image of a chivalrous person among the Chinese public. Kung fu in modern Chinese is also used as a metaphor, referring to a skill. 

Records of chivalrous people in China can be found in books written more than 2,300 years ago. But in the early years they were people that defied the imperial authorities or mainstream values in society. They were marginalized or even cracked down on. They did not have magic kung fu. Their image and the attitude toward them changed later. Given this, over thousands of years, chivalry, as a spirit or a value, is present in different groups in different ways during different times in China’s history. Chivalrous people were real or fictional in the process. It is a story about how people projected their expectations for life and justice on something they could not get in the real world.