The Song, Liao, Jin, and Western Xia period was the era of the most intense ethnic integration in ancient Chinese history. Through repeated clashes, Central Plains civilization and the nomadic civilizations around it absorbed influences from one another. They endured the growing pains of contradiction and conflict, tempered by blood and fire, and ultimately continued to develop with unyielding tenacity. Over more than three centuries, the people of Huaxia, with passionate creativity and indomitable will, left behind precious material and spiritual legacies for posterity.
In this splendid age of civilization, conflicts arose one after another and wars raged without end. Countless heroes emerged, shining brightly through the long river of history. Zhao Kuangyin rose from the chaos of the Five Dynasties, campaigning north and south to establish the mighty Song; Empress Dowager Xiao proved the equal of any man, stabilizing the government and strengthening the Khitan; Yuanhao, driven by ambition, expanded his realm and founded the Western Xia; Wanyan Liang, gifted in both letters and arms, reformed the government and moved the capital, advancing the Jin's adoption of Han culture. And there were loyal civil officials and valiant generals: Kou Zhun, Fan Zhongyan, Ouyang Xiu, Sima Guang, Xin Qiji, and Wen Tianxiang, whose convictions could not be swayed by life or death, poverty or wealth; Yang Ye, Di Qing, Han Shizhong, Yue Fei, Li Tingzhi, and Zhang Shijie, whose hearts could not be moved by victory or defeat, gain or loss. Together, they composed a tragic and magnificent heroic epic, worthy of song and tears.
In the troubled times in Chinese history, there were many heroes. In the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, hundreds of schools of thought were lofty and outstanding, and heroes competed with each other; during the Three Kingdoms period, traitorous heroes and tyrants plotted to destroy the world. Third, Su Dongpo is the first person in the ages, Li Qingzhao is a hero among women, Xin Qiji is a warrior and an iron horse, and Yue Wumu is looking northward. In the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, outstanding people emerged in large numbers to guide the country. It is the era that creates heroes, and it is the heroes who shine in the era.
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