The Legend of the Eastern Hero

In the eyes of Western scholars, this was an age when heroes rose in the East. Among them were Genghis Khan, who came from the grasslands, and Zhao Yong, who came from the Central Plains.

After traveling through the East, Marco Polo wrote biographies of these two heroes, weaving in tales of the Orient. The heroes in those stories later became role models who inspired young people in the West.

Does the age make the hero, or does the hero make the age? Later readers are unlikely to know for sure. To understand the truth, perhaps everyone would have to enter that era themselves and see it with their own eyes.