Li Bai was born in 701. He was also given the name “Taibai”. The name meant “Venus” (太白金星) in ancient Chinese. Legend says that before Li Bai was born, his mother dreamed that Venus fell into her arms. Some people believed that Li Bai was a god.

Li Bai was not a very hard-working student when he was young. He often skipped school. One day when he was walking by the river, he saw an old woman. She was working on a large piece of iron (铁). He asked, “What are you doing?” She said. “I’m making a needle (针).” “But how can you make a large piece of iron into a needle?” She replied. “I must work hard every day.” Li Bai suddenly understood the importance of hard work, and he started to work hard at school.

Li Bai loved nature, especially big mountains and rivers. He traveled to lots of beautiful mountains and wrote lots of poems about them. He also wrote a lot about the moon. These poems are loved by many people. For example, Thoughts on a Tranquil Night (静夜思).

Li Bai died at the age of 61. There is a story about his death. One night, Li Bai was drinking on a boat on a river. He saw the moon in the river, and he jumped into the water. Legend says that he became a large bird and flew away.

Yue Fei was born on March 24, 1103, Tangyin of Xiangzhou (in today’s Henan Province in China) and died on January 27, 1142, Lin’an (now Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province). He was a national hero of the Southern Song.

There is a famous story about Yue Fei. Once he left the army and went home to see his mother. His mother gave him a serious talk and tattooed (刺青) on his back “loyalty to the nation (精忠报国),” which Yue kept in mind ever since, helping him achieve a lot later and become a well-known national hero.

Yue had some special ways to train an army. Once Yue found out the weak soldiers (士兵) and sent them home, only leaving a thousand soldiers with strong bodies for training. However, after some months, the new soldiers were ready to perform almost as well as those who had served under Yue for years. Yue also put his men well under control. One of the rules was that the men would not even try to visit their families if they passed by their homes. He always sent his orders in a simple way that was easy for all of his soldiers to understand. Whoever failed to follow them were punished (惩罚).

Among all Chinese war heroes, Yue Fei is regarded as the brightest one in history.

Those who have virtue(德行) but no talent might work uselessly. Those who have talent but no virtue might not use their talent properly. Those who have both talent and virtue were called xiancai in ancient times. If you ask which one is more important between the two, it must be virtue. Only if a person has virtue can he or she get on the right road.

There is a story in the book History as a Mirror《资治通鉴》by Chinese historian Sima Guang. Zhi Xuanzi was the head of a big clan(家族) in the State of Jin during the Spring and Autumn Period(770-476BC). He wanted a clan member, Zhi Yao, to be the next leader of the clan.

However, another man in the clan, Zhi Guo, was against the idea. Because he knew Zhi Yao was not kind and a little rude. One day, Zhi Guo listed some strong points of Zhi Yao. For example, he was good at riding and shooting. Also he was creative and talkative. But Zhi Guo said that he had a big problem: his virtue. He had an unkind heart.

Zhi Guo thought Zhi Xuanzi could accept his advice. However, Zhi Xuanzi didn’t listen to the idea. Zhi Xuanzi still made Zhi Yao became the head of the clan. With his leadership abilities, he quickly made his clan the strongest in Jin. But after a long period, because of his aggressive(咄咄逼人的) style and his unkind action, more and more people dislike him. Meanwhile, three other clans worked together to fight against the Zhi clan. Finally, the Zhi clan was beaten.

Sima Guang used this story to stress the importance of virtue. Talent is not enough. He said that excellent people must have both talent and virtue.