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The Wandering Knight-errant in Chinese Culture
The character of knight-errant (Xia, 俠) can be found in many classic Chinese works, such as Han Feizi (《韓非子》), Water Margin (《水滸傳》), The Three Heroes and Five Gallants (《三俠五義》), and martial arts novels from Louis Cha Leung-yung. A knight-errant was someone who held others by force or this kind of forcible behaviour.
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從《水滸傳》到《三俠五義》中的「義俠」
自從唐代中葉的李德裕在〈豪俠論〉中提出「義非俠不立,俠非義不成」的論點,企圖以儒家的「仁義」規範俠客的「氣義」之後,中國的俠客開始從元氣淋漓但缺乏理性觀照的「原俠」,逐漸蛻轉成既能維持其耿直豪邁的風格,但卻又符合社會期待的「義俠」。