The Generals of the Yang Family

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The Generals of the Yang Family
Yang Ye committing suicide by ramming his head against a stele dedicated for Li Ling. From one 1823 print of the novel Complete Legends of Northern Song's Golden Spears (北宋金鎗全傳).[note 1]
Traditional Chinese	楊家將
Simplified Chinese	杨家将
Literal meaning	Yang-Family Generals
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Yáng Jiā Jiàng Wade–Giles Yang2 Chia1 Chiang4 Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization Yeung4 Ga1 Jeung3 Jyutping Joeng4 Gaa1 Zoeng3

The Generals of the Yang Family is a collection of Chinese folklore, plays and novels on a military family from the earlier years of imperial China's Song dynasty (960–1279). The stories recount the unflinching loyalty and the remarkable bravery of the Yangs as they sacrificed themselves to defend their country from foreign military powers, namely the Khitan-ruled Liao dynasty (907–1125) and Tangut-ruled Western Xia (1038–1227).

Spanning the century from 950 to 1050,^[1] the mostly fictional saga was based on the lives of historical characters Yang Ye (died 986), Yang Ye's son Yang Yanzhao (c. 958–1014) and Yang Yanzhao's son Yang Wenguang (died 1074). As Yang Yanzhao was nicknamed "sixth son" (六郎) in history, the stories made him Yang Ye's sixth eldest son. Also, as Yang Wenguang was close to two generations younger than his father, the stories made him Yang Yanzhao's grandson instead.

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