The Unreachable Harmony in a Re-constructed World: Three Influences in Jin Yong’s Novels

Abstract

The world of knights – errant back in the ancient times created by Jin Yong, a contemporary Chinese historian and writer, has been a shared imagination of over 100 million readers. This paper discusses how the history of wars and the idea of peace in the dynasties of China are re – constructed in Jin Yong’s best – selling novels. Instead of presenting a kind of chivalry to rescue the world from the warring chaos, Jin Yong often disturbs and meanwhile fascinates his readers with the insolubility of problems in history. A knight – errant in his ripe years was posed with the question: how to stop fighting. At some critical moments, his innermost working showed the influences of Confucian and epicurean cultures alternatively. The ending of the realistic plots of Jin Yong’s stories are usually tragic or semi – tragic, featuring the insolubility of various social and individual problems. However, the implicit themes of his works go beyond the choice of gain or loss, and move on to the philosophy of forgiveness and non – duality, highlighting the third influence of the Buddhist culture. In this sense, the unreachable harmony in the re – constructed histories is a reminder of the diversity of worldviews and the importance of recog­nizing the insolubility of worldly problems.