National icons wth foreign background

Richard the Lionheart is perhaps one of the most famous English kings. Often, he was portrayed by the most English actors in movies. In reality, he was actually French. He grew up in France. He spent more time in France than in England. Some historians even claimed that he could not speak English.

Across the English Channel, Napoleon Bonaparte was actually an Italian. He grew up sepaking Italian. His birthname was actually Napoleone di Buonaparte. He was born on the island of Corsica one year after it became French property. His father, Carlo, was an Italian noblemen with rank of the "noble Patrician of Tuscany" an outspoken critics of the French "annexation" of the island. He once worked for Corsican nationalist Pasquale Paoli. However, once the island to become French, Carlos worked well with the French.

Napoleon himself moved to France at a young age. Later in life, he changed his name from Napoleone di Buonaparte to Napoleon Bonaparte to prive his loyalty to France.

The Chinese often called themselves the people of "Tang" because of the Tang dynasty (618 to 907 AD). While the dynasty itself was not a result of a foreign invasion, the ruling family-- the Li family - was actually Turkish in origin. The ancestors of the Li family was actuallty Turkish tribal chiefs who served for the Chinese military and later assimilated into Chinese nobility. By the time of the foundation of the Tang dynasty, the Li familty had adopted a Chinese surname. They had intermarried with Chinese women.

Li Yuan, the founder of the Tang dynasty, was actually a famous general who was known to have pacify the Turkish tribesmen.