By staff reporter HUO JIANYING

Hu Sanniang, a heroine in an ancient peasant uprising, as depicted in a Peking opera.

THE standard scenario in films and literary works about ancient China is that of an honest man being attacked and robbed by bandits, or a beautiful woman about to lose her virtue to a gang of ruffians. Just when it appears nothing can save them, a knight-errant and master of martial arts, rather than officer of the law, comes to his/her rescue just in the nick of time. The knight-errant makes mincemeat of the villains and they flee, limping and bleeding, for their lives. When the rescued party tremulously asks the stranger’s name in order to repay his bravery, his response is a gruff “don’t mention it” before galloping off in a cloud of dust.

Knightly heroes such as this were actually a specific social group in feudal China. They had generally undergone harrowingly unjust experiences that had made them want to quit normal life and live a marginal existence on the fringes of society. As a social phenomenon, they aroused both admiration and controversy throughout the dynasties.

Han Fei (280-233 B.C.), main representative of the Legalist School during the Warring States Period (475-221 B.C.), was of the opinion that “Confucians sabotage the legal system with words, and errant valiants break the law by force.” Great historian Sima Qian of the Western Han Dynasty (206 B.C.-A.D. 25) held a different view. He amassed a large amount of information about knights-errant, objectively studying and analyzing them. Sima Qian’s monumental work, Records of the Historian, contains a chapter “Collected Biographies of Knights-errant” in which he argued that it was wrong to make black and white assessments of this social group. Although there were individual cases of flagrant disregard for law and order, the errantry in general represented the spirit of fidelity, credibility, gallantry, perseverance and self-sacrifice -- human qualities to be encouraged and promoted. All these attributes he lumped together under the broad heading of knightly righteousness that he saw as crucial to social co-existence.

Liang Hongyu as depicted fighting Jin invaders in a Peking opera.

Sima Qian’s magnanimous view did not win favor with rulers of the following dynasties, whose official records show no trace of knightly exploits, no matter how heroic. To the common people at the nadir of the feudal system and subject to ruthless exploitation, on the other hand, these gallants embodied justice and strength. Their brave deeds became legend and part of the folklore story telling tradition that lasted for generations.

Beat the Power and Help the Weak

On browsing through these tales of brave deeds, it is cheering to discover that their protagonists were not exclusively male. One heroine of the oppressed was Thirteenth Sister.

Thirteenth Sister’s real name was He Yufeng. The only daughter of a Qing Dynasty official, she learned to read and write, as well as become proficient in martial skills. General Ji Xiantang, direct superior to Yufeng’s father, admired her beauty and versatility and proposed a match between her and his son. Upon Yufeng’s refusal, the angry general trumped up a false charge against her father and had him thrown into jail, where he was allowed to die. General Ji also hired an assassin to get rid of Yufeng and her mother, but Yufeng defeated and captured the killer who, out of gratitude for her mercy, advised her to find shelter under the protection of a knightly man named Deng Jiugong.

Mother and daughter fled to Deng Jiugong’ residence, but no sooner had they arrived than a gang of ruffians came to attack him. Yufeng helped Deng fight them off; and he was so moved by her bravery that he decided to coach and help her perfect her martial arts skills. A few years later, Yufeng bid farewell to her mother and teacher and set out on a mission to avenge her father’s life, taking the name Thirteenth Sister.

On her way, she came upon two waggoners transporting a large amount of silver for a young man named An. Thirteenth Sister overheard them as they conspired to kill An on a deserted mountain and make off with his silver. She followed them to an inn where she met An, who told her about his father, an honest and upright official responsible for water conservancy. He had been made a scapegoat by his unscrupulous and corrupt superior after the collapse of a dam during a flood. An’s father was unjustly charged with negligence and fined 6,000 taels of silver. In an effort to save him, An and his mother sold all the family property and borrowed from relatives. They still only managed to scrape together 3,000 taels of silver, the sum An was transporting in the hope of freeing his father.

Sympathetic to An, Thirteenth Sister decided to raise the balance of the ransom. She urged him not to leave the inn until her return, but the two waggoners duped this naive young man into believing she was a robber and tempted him away. They met a just end, however, when all three men were set upon by robbers in a temple. The two villains were killed, and An was on the point of being slain when Thirteenth Sister arrived and saved him.

Folk tales of Thirteenth Sister have since been adapted into theatrical productions, films and TV plays. Although there are now various versions of her story, her gallantry is a constant.

Heroism at Times of National Crisis

Hua Mulan (second right) bids farewell to her family dressed as a man in the eponymous opera.

The spirit of errantry developed as times changed. Knightly men and women were elevated from their original status of social dropouts to heroes and heroines that avenged the wronged and punished villains, according to their own concepts of justice. Many are held up as examples at times of national crisis. Mu Guiying, a household name by virtue of a large repertoire of Peking operas in tribute to her, is a typical example.

Mu Guiying lived during the warring period of the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127). Her father, originally an imperial official, was falsely accused by corrupt officials and forced to flee to a mountain. There he established his own Robin Hood-style band of outlaws that robbed the rich to give to the poor. Having grown up in her father’s mountain fortress, Mu Guiying mastered military skills and became a resolute and courageous character.

One year, the Liao regime to the north of the Northern Song invaded its frontier area. The Liao army effectively deployed the Heavenly Gate battle array, which Song troops were unable to penetrate despite several charges. The Song army needed a special kind of wood to make the weapons capable of defeating this battle stance. The Song general sent his son Yang Zongbao and two other officers to the Mu Mountain Fortress in search of this timber. Mu Guiying defeated and captured them. Captured and capturer, however, discovered that they had much in common: both their fathers had been honest officials of good reputation among the people but that had failed to win imperial favor. They also admired each other’s heroism and competence, not to mention good looks. They consequently fell in love and married in the fortress. When Yang Zongbao asked to be allowed to continue his military mission, Mu Guiying accompanied him to the Song barracks. General Yang was furious at his son’s turning a military mission into a marriage and ordered his execution. Upon hearing this, Mu Guiying pushed her way into the general’s tent. She guaranteed that she and her father would bury the hatchet with the imperial court and help destroy the Heavenly Gate battle array if he dropped charges against Yang Zongbao. General Yang agreed, and Mu Guiying became a member of the Yang Family generals that safeguarded the country by protecting the frontier, earning fame as national heroes.

Mu Guiying helped defeat the invading Liao army, and also triumphed in several military expeditions against them. On one occasion she led her army in pursuit of the fleeing enemy, but had to stop in order to give birth. Upon getting wind of this, the enemy stopped its retreat and prepared for a counter-attack. On the third day after giving birth, Mu Guiying faced the Liao army in her military uniform. Upon seeing her, the Liao general thought the rumor he had heard was part of Mu Guiying’s strategy to decoy him, and retreated.

Mu Guiying sacrificed her Robin Hood style existence for the national interest and fought for the country till her latter years. She personified the righteous spirit of ancient Chinese errantry.

Self-sacrifice for Country and People

There were a number of Mu Guiying-type national heroines in Chinese history. They include 3rd century heroine Xun Guanniang, who fought her way single-handed through an enemy siege to bring contingency troops that defeated the enemy; Hua Mulan who disguised as a man joined the army in the name of her father to fight invaders, and Liang Hongyu who successfully led her troops against the invading Jin army. Some of these tales of valor have undoubtedly been exaggerated in their telling, but the bravery of a later heroine, Qui Jin (1875-1907), stands uncontested.

Qiu Jin began practicing martial arts during her childhood, but had little use for her skills within the strict confines of her feudal environment. She earned national fame by virtue of her peerless courage, righteousness and self-sacrifice in the interests of the country and its people.

Born in Zhejiang’s Shaoxing, both Qiu Jin’s father and grandfather were Qing officials. Well-read, she admired the heroic women that had forged for themselves a place in Chinese history. Her self-styled motto was: Though I was not born with a man’s body, I was born with a mind stronger than man’s.

In 1894, 20-year-old Qiu Jin was forced by her parents to marry the dissolute son of a rich family. After moving to Beijing and bearing her husband a son and daughter, she left him and went to study in Japan. Anti-Qing feeling was strong in Japan. Qiu Jin joined the Guangfu [Restoration] Society, and the Chinese United League led by Sun Yatsen and was elected leader of the League’s Zhejiang branch. In 1906 Qiu Jin returned to Shaoxing and established the Datong School, where she trained leaders for the Guangfu Society. In cooperation with her cousin, Xu Xilin, she organized an anti-Qing armed force and prepared for an uprising.

In July 1907, the uprising was betrayed. Xu Xilin, who was mobilizing a movement in Anhui, was forced to launch it ahead of schedule. He succeeded in killing the Anhui governor, but the Qing army quashed the rebellion. Qiu Jin, whom it was planned would conduct a concerted action in Zhejiang, was then exposed. Refusing to escape, she decided to be the first woman martyr of the revolution, in the belief this would motivate more people to join in it. After a street gun fight with the Qing army, Qiu Jin was captured, tortured and executed. She was 32.

Four years later the Qing Dynasty was toppled, bringing an end to China’s feudal history. The name of Qiu Jin, in common with those of other heroines, was thereafter branded on the consciousness of the Chinese people.