How Can a Man Die Better? Wen Tianxiang

In our continuing series on Chinese historical figures regarded as national heroes, we look at the life of the 13th century statesman Wen Tianxiang. Born in 1236 into a beleaguered Southern Song Dynasty, Wen Tianxiang enjoyed early recognition for his keen intellect and a rapid rise through the Song bureaucracy eventually to become chancellor. Unfortunately for him, during that same time, the Mongol Empire expanded from Mongolia all the way to Europe. Although it held out against the Mongols...