Yuling Shi

Yuling Shi received her Bachelor’s degree in Chinese Language and Literature, with a minor in English Language and Literature, in China. After working as an English teacher for three years, she moved to Germany for further studies. She completed her master degree in English and American Studies at the University of Bamberg. Her research interests include Chinese literature, martial arts fiction and popular culture, memory studies, and narratology.

Project: Knightly Bones, Tender Heart: The Sentimental in Chinese Knight-Errant

As a long celebrated literal and cultural symbol, the Chinese knight-errant has captivated the hearts and minds of generations of Chinese people transcending the limitations of time, space and ideologies. What intrinsic qualities have established the knight-errant as one of the most beloved icons in Chinese culture? What does the popularity of the knight-errant reveal about the evolution of Chinese cultural identity? My project seeks to answer these questions by proposing that Chinese knight-errant is, at its core, a sentimental subject—an autonomous moral agent unbound by external authorities or principles. Moreover, the shifting sentimental dimensions in the portrayal of knights-errant serve as an elaborate footnote to the genealogy of sentimentality in China. The project examines the sentimental dimension of the knight-errant figure in Chinese martial arts fiction and its interconnectedness with the evolution of Chinese sentimentality. My methodology is genealogical, focusing on specific, pivotal moments in the development of knight-errantry, which also informs my selection of primary texts. The research covers the martial arts fiction from the middle to late Tang Dynasty, the work of Wang Dulu in the early 20th century, and the work of Jin Yong in the latter half of the century, through both textual and contextual historical analysis. By doing so, this research aspires to offer a fresh lens through which to analyze the intricate connections between knight-errantry and Chinese sentimentality, and to uncover new dimensions for interpreting Chinese cultural and social dynamics.