The story of "Looking North" revolves around the life of the fictional character Xu Yuan and runs through the last forty years of the Southern Song Dynasty. From Jinan to Xiangyang, from soldiers to generals, from the battlefield to the court, he experienced all the glory and sorrow of this dynasty.
In the history of the Southern Song Dynasty, there were indeed countless "Xu Yuan": those soldiers who stayed in Xiangyang for thirty-eight years, those loyal ministers who braved the cliffs and crossed the sea, and those ordinary people who would rather die than surrender under the Mongolian cavalry. They may not have left their names, but their spirit forms the backbone of the Chinese nation.
Wen Tianxiang wrote in "Song of Righteousness": "When times are poor, we can see each other and draw pictures one by one." In the darkest times, the glory of human nature is even more dazzling.
The door that Xu Yuan finally opened was not only his personal salvation, but also a consolation for all the victims of that era. What they protect with their lives is not a dynasty, but a spirit, a kind of integrity, and a kind of civilization fire called "China".
This fire has never been extinguished.
Thanks for reading.
