In China, the genre of “wuxia”, or martial arts fiction, fills a similar niche to that occupied by the Western genre in the United States. Instead of gunslingers in the 1800s, however, wuxia focuses on martial artists in ancient and medieval China. Bound by a special code of honour, wuxia fighters must usually resolve disputes through direct combat, which often leads to dramatic physical confrontations between characters that defy the laws of physics.
Pre-eminent among wuxia fiction is a Chinese-language novel titled Divine Condor, Gallant Knight (Shen Diao Xia Lu), the second in the famous “Condor Trilogy” by Jin Yong. First published as a Chinese-language serial in 1959, Divine Condor, Gallant Knight focuses on a young man named Yang Guo and the heroic deeds he performs while in search of his beloved Xiao Longnu (whose name literally translates as “dragon lady”). Unlike Guo Jing, the steadfast, by-the-book hero of the first novel, The Legend of the Condor Hero (She Diao Ying Xiong Chuan), Yang Guo is more cunning, less restrained, and completely unpredictable. His behaviour is not indicative of a lack of values, but rather suggests an unconventional moral code moulded by a frustration with orthodox society. At the beginning of the novel, his attitude and lack of martial arts training cause him to get pushed around frequently by members of the mainstream but are of no concern to a few eccentrics with whom he forms deep and lasting relationships. While his experiences cause him to think of himself as an underdog, they also make him self-reliant, principled, and extremely loyal. Yang Guo sees himself in contrast to rather than in service of orthodoxy and convention, and his independent mindset provides the ideal backdrop for his g...
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...ings of the world exposes them to numerous enemies. Yet even amidst such intense drama, Yang Guo’s thoughts in the early portions of the book are still those of any rebellious teenage boy. The intricacy does not stop there, either— while Divine Condor, Gallant Knight does have the large amount flat characters befitting of a traditional epic, it also has a surprising number of complex, realistic characters, including Zhen Zhibing, the guilt-ridden Taoist who lusts after Xiao Longnu, and Li Mochou, the bitter and murderous “Scarlet Serpent Fairy” who performs her first kind deed by taking care of someone else’s baby. Even when all the kung fu, weapons, flying, and battles are stripped away, Divine Condor, Gallant Knight still has much to say about coming of age and being a human, and it consequently has no less merit than any English-language novel of the same caliber.
Jonathan Spence tells his readers of how Mao Zedong was a remarkable man to say the very least. He grew up a poor farm boy from a small rural town in Shaoshan, China. Mao was originally fated to be a farmer just as his father was. It was by chance that his young wife passed away and he was permitted to continue his education which he valued so greatly. Mao matured in a China that was undergoing a threat from foreign businesses and an unruly class of young people who wanted modernization. Throughout his school years and beyond Mao watched as the nation he lived in continued to change with the immense number of youth who began to westernize. Yet in classes he learned classical Chinese literature, poems, and history. Mao also attained a thorough knowledge of the modern and Western world. This great struggle between modern and classical Chinese is what can be attributed to most of the unrest in China during this time period. His education, determination and infectious personalit...
Wu Xia or Wuxia – a type of Chinese story utilizing martial arts of ancient China which showcases heroism (Dictionary)
To achieve this goal, he crafts a stylized capitalistic society that inflicts grave injustices upon his protagonists. The avarice inherent to this society governs everyday life within Street Angel. Xiao Hong, for example, lives with adoptive parents so corrupted by greed that they prostitute their older daughter, Xiao Yun. In a transaction that reflects the inhumanity of higher-level capitalism, these parents sell Xiao Hong to a local gangster. By juxtaposing the implications of this sale with Xiao Hong’s exaggerated innocence, Yuan appeals to his audience’s emotions, stoking anger toward social values that could enable such barbaric exploitation of the poor. Yuan employs a similar juxtaposition later in Street Angel, when Wang visits a lawyer’s office in a skyscraper – an environment so divorced from his day-to-day realities that he remarks, “This is truly heaven.” Wang soon learns otherwise, when the lawyer rebuffs his naïve plea for assistance by coldly reciting his exorbitant fees. The lawyer’s emotionless greed – a callousness that represents capitalism at its worst – contrasts strikingly with Wang’s naïve purity, a quality betrayed by his awestruck expression while inside the skyscraper. Again, this juxtaposition encourages the film’s audience to sympathize with a proletarian victim and condemn the social values that enable his
Bokenkamp, Stephen R. “A Medieval Feminist Critique of the Chinese World Order: The Case of Wu Zhao (r. 690–705).” Religion, 28 no 4, (1998): 383-392, DOI: 10.1006/reli.1998.0147.
Thesis Statement: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight shows the struggle between a good Christian man against the temptations of this world.
In Gordon M. Shedd’s “Knight in Tarnished Armour: The Meaning of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight”, he argues that Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is truly about the strength and weaknesses of human nature. One particularly interesting part of his argument asserts that Gawain’s humanity broke medieval romance tradition.
The Sun of the Revolution by Liang Heng, is intriguing and vivid, and gives us a complex and compelling perspective on Chines culture during a confusing time period. We get the opportunity to learn the story of a young man with a promising future, but an unpleasant childhood. Liang Heng was exposed to every aspect of the Cultural Revolution in China, and shares his experiences with us, since the book is written from Liang perspective, we do not have a biased opinion from an elite member in the Chinese society nor the poor we get an honest opinion from the People’s Republic of China. Liang only had the fortunate opportunity of expressing these events due his relationship with his wife, An American woman whom helps him write the book. When Liang Heng and Judy Shapiro fell in love in China during 1979, they weren’t just a rarity they were both pioneers at a time when the idea of marriages between foreigners and Chinese were still unacceptable in society.
Cao Xueqin’s Story of the Stone is a classic in Chinese literature, showcasing the life and exploits of the wealthy Jia clan during the feudal era. Through Cao’s depiction, the reader is afforded a glimpse into the customs and lifestyle of the time. Chinese mode of thought is depicted as it occurred in daily life, with the coexisting beliefs of Confucianism and Taoism. While the positive aspects of both ideologies are presented, Cao ultimately depicts Taoism as the paramount, essential system of belief that guides the character Bao-yu to his eventual enlightenment.
In “The Fish” by Elizabeth Bishop, the narrator attempts to understand the relationship between humans and nature and finds herself concluding that they are intertwined due to humans’ underlying need to take away from nature, whether through the act of poetic imagination or through the exploitation and contamination of nature. Bishop’s view of nature changes from one where it is an unknown, mysterious, and fearful presence that is antagonistic, to one that characterizes nature as being resilient when faced against harm and often victimized by people. Mary Oliver’s poem also titled “The Fish” offers a response to Bishop’s idea that people are harming nature, by providing another reason as to why people are harming nature, which is due to how people are unable to view nature as something that exists and goes beyond the purpose of serving human needs and offers a different interpretation of the relationship between man and nature. Oliver believes that nature serves as subsidence for humans, both physically and spiritually. Unlike Bishop who finds peace through understanding her role in nature’s plight and acceptance at the merging between the natural and human worlds, Oliver finds that through the literal act of consuming nature can she obtain a form of empowerment that allows her to become one with nature.
Wu Xia or Wuxia – a type of Chinese story utilizing martial arts of ancient China which showcases heroism (Dictionary)
This novel tells the story of Wang Lung. He is a man who rises from being a poor farmer to a very wealthy man because of his faith in the good earth. In the beginning of the story Wang Lung tries to see as little water as possible because he feels safest with his land under his feet. His family is very poor so he must feed his father corn gruel and tea.
...ot help but be torn by the strife and struggle the people of Fengjie are forced to accept as a convention on the mantel of normal behavior.
The Asian literature is quite different in terms of character admiration than that of previous reviewed section. It is apparent that the characters did not suffer near as much quite as much tragedy as that of other cultures, but yet still generate thair own respect in terms of admiration. While still having to rise above the rest ,these characters seem to have to deal with less in the first place. Two prime examples of this are Policeman 663 in ChungKing Express and Rat in the book A Wild Sheep Chase.
The novel "K’uai-Ts’ui Li Ts’ui-lien Chi" create a dare to challenge the established ruling order, dare to contempt for feudal ethical education, dare to fight for the independent
The Heian period(794-1185), the so-called golden age of Japanese culture, produced some of the finest works of Japanese literature.1 The most well known work from this period, the Genji Monogatari, is considered to be the “oldest novel still recognized today as a major masterpiece.”2 It can also be said that the Genji Monogatari is proof of the ingenuity of the Japanese in assimilating Chinese culture and politics. As a monogatari, a style of narrative with poems interspersed within it, the characters and settings frequently allude to Chinese poems and stories. In addition to displaying the poetic prowess that the Japanese had attained by this time period, the Genji Monogatari also demonstrates how politics and gender ideals were adopted from the Chinese.