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Touch base on Mulan's core message to further my thesis

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Mulan, a special message to empower the young female audience.

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EMPOWERMENT FROM MULAN TO THE YOUNG VIEWERS In Mulan, the story shows the beginning of feminism in the Chinese Society, when the protagonist steals her handicapped father’s armor and sword, as she replaces him in the nation’s battle against the Hun’s. In this scene, Mulan shows a

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I will use this to further my thesis

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To the boy that will love me next, I need you to know and understand things about me and my past. The things I have been though not only have shaped the person I've become, but also sometimes controls my life. In the past I've been used, abused, and taken for granted, and I want something real this time. The guys before you were just boys; they didn't know how to treat me until it was too late. They didn't understand how to love me, until I broke my own heart. Before you truly decide to love me I want you to understand these things.

When I tell you something, please listen.

I'm my own person, I want to be loved a certain way. If I ask you to come over and watch movies with me please do it, if I ask for you to leave me alone for a few hours because it's a girl's night please do it. I don't just say things to hear my own voice, I say things to you because it's important to my life and the way I want to be loved. I'm not a needy person when it comes to being loved and cared for, but I do ask for you to do the small things that I am say.

Forgive my past.

My past is not a pretty brick road, it is a highway that has a bunch of potholes and cracks in it. I have a lot of baggage, and most of it you won't understand. But don't let my past decided whether you want to love me or not. My past has helped form who I am today, but it does not define who I am. My past experiences might try and make an appearance every once in a while, but I will not go back to that person I once was, I will not return to all that hurt I once went though. When I say those things, I'm telling the complete and honest truth. I relive my past every day, somethings haunt me and somethings are good reminds. But for you to love me, I need you to accept my past, present and future.

I'm just another bro to the other guys.

I have always hung out with boys, I don't fit in with the girl groups. I have 10 close girlfriends, but the majority of my friends are guy, but don't let this scare you. If I wanted to be with one of my guy friends I would already be with him, and if you haven't noticed I don't want them because I'm with you. I will not lose my friendships with all my guy friends to be able to stay with you. I will not cut off ties because you don't like my guy friends. I have lost too many buddies because of my ex-boyfriends and I promised myself I wouldn't do that again. If you don't like how many guy friends I have you can leave now. Don't bother trying to date me if you can accept the fact I'm just another bro.

I might be a badass, but I actually have a big heart.

To a lot of people I come off to be a very crazy and wild girl. I will agree I can be crazy and wild, but I'm more than that. I'm independent, caring, responsible, understanding, forgiving, and so such more type of woman. Many people think that I'm a badass because I don't take any negatively from anyone. Just like we learned when we were younger, "if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say it at all." Most people can't do that in today's world, so I stick up for myself and my friends. I don't care what anyone thinks about me, or their option on how I live my life. The only thing I care about is being able to make myself happy. Even though I'm an independent woman, understand that I do have a big heart. Honesty when I truly care for someone I will do just about anything they ask, but don't take advantage of this. Once you take advantage of this part of me, all respect will be lost for you.

I'm hard to love.

Sometimes I want to be cuddle and get attention, and sometimes I don't want you to talk to me for a couple hours. Sometimes I want you to take me out for a nice meal, but sometimes I want a home cooked meal. Every day is different for me, sometimes I change my mind every hour. My mood swings are terrible on certain days, and on those days you should probably just ignore me. I'm not easy to love, so you'll either be willing to find a way to love me, or you'll walk out like so many others have.

I'm scared.

I'm scared to love someone again. I've been hurt, heartbroken, and beat to the ground in my past relationships. I want to believe you are different, I want to hope things will truly work out, but every relationship has always ended up the same way. I'm scared to trust someone, put my whole heart into them, just to be left and heartbroken again. I sick and tired of putting my whole body and soul into someone for them to just leave when it is convenient for them. If you want to love me, understand it won't be easy for me to love you back.

When "I'm done."

When I say "I'm done" I honestly don't mean that I'm done. When I say that it means I need and want you to fight for me, show me why you want to be with me. I need you to prove that I'm worth it and there's no one else but me. If I was truly done, I would just walk away, and not come back. So if I ever tell you, "I'm done," tell me all the reasons why I'm truly not done.

For the boy who will love me next, the work is cut out for you, you just have to be willing to do it. I'm not like other girls, I am my own person, and I will need to be treated as such. For the boy that will love me next, don't bother with me unless you really want to be with me. I don't have time to waste on you if you aren't going to try and make something out of us. To the boy who will love me next, the last thing I would like to say is good luck, I have faith in you.

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To the boy that will love me next, I need you to know and understand things about me and my past. The things I have been though not only have shaped the person I've become, but also sometimes controls my life. In the past I've been used, abused, and taken for granted, and I want something real this time.

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I will use this in my thesis

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Disclaimer: This work has been submitted by a student. This is not an example of the work produced by our Essay Writing Service. You can view samples of our professional work here.

Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of UK Essays.

"Mulan" is an animation movie that was released by Walt Disney Pictures on 5th June 1998 in USA, while in Indonesia it was released on 23 October 1998 . Since then the movie was well received and became popular all over the world. Similar to previous Disney's animation production, Mulan, which based on a China Legend, Ballad of Mulan, has an interesting story with morale message and it is enriched with music and songs. Mulan also has won several awards such Golden Globe Awards for Best Original Score and many other.

With its simple, entertaining story and strong morale lesson, "Mulan" is really appropriate for children. I was 9 years old when I watched this movie for the first time and I have watched it several times since that time. As a little girl, the simple morale lesson I can take from "Mulan" is that a woman also have the power and can be appreciated just like men. Therefore, I thought this movie can be considered as feminist movie. However, after I really get to some details in this movie such as the dialogue, the plot and the songs, I realized that actually there is a contradiction between the morale lesson that is promoted by this movie and the details in the movie, which are supposed to support the morale lesson.

At first, "Mulan" seems to empowering woman by the performance of the female main character, which is Mulan herself. However, the details in this movie show the strong patriarchal system in that society instead of promoting the feminist side. Therefore, the details in this movie will be analyzed by using textual analysis in order to find the contradiction between the big morale lesson and the details. The purpose of this paper is also want to see how the masculinity construction actually has a powerful authority over the woman in a society.

The Feminist Side of "Mulan"

Mulan is one of the Disney princess characters; however she has different characters compare to the other princesses . She did things that were unusual for a woman, especially a princess. She was not dreaming of finding the right prince that she would marry in the end. On the other hands, she showed that, actually, woman can do something for the society, instead of only waiting for her prince. She shows some feminist qualities that were hardly found at her society.

First, Mulan is an independent woman. She did everything by herself and did not rely on others, especially men. This quality can be clearly seen when she was in the training camp. This film exposed Mulan as "an individual pursuing and proving her self" .She tried to prove herself that she could survive through the training camp by her own effort. She succeeded to show that until the end, she even surpasses the other men in the camp. She could go on through every obstacle by her own. Women tend to depend themselves to others, especially men, either they realized that or not. When a woman is not married, she relies on her family or, in other word, her father. Then, after she married, she will depend to her husband. It seems like a patriarchal circle of life. As a result, woman will always depend on somebody else. However, Mulan wanted to show something different. She looked for her own identity by her own way and it shows that woman also can live independently.

The next feminist quality of Mulan is her bravery. She was not afraid of doing something that was against the ideal norm at that patriarchal society. She stole her father armor and dressed as a man to replace her father in the war.

Mulan, herself, actually had tried to think as a feminist. She wanted to break the common social construction in her society. It was obvious in the song, entitled "A Girl Worth Fighting For". When the men asked how was the ideal woman for Mulan as Ping at that time, she answered, "How about a girl who's got a brain. Who always speaks her mind?" (A Girl Worth Fighting For - Mulan; 1998) After that the men show a disapproving expression for Mulan's answer. Actually, what Mulan said shows her true feeling about how a woman should be. She was against the idea of ideal women in that society. Woman was only working in home and most of them did not really get good education. Furthermore, 'speaks her mind' was also a taboo thing to do in that old Chinese society. A woman had to be quiet and just followed what the men were saying. However, Mulan had thought something different as a woman which showed her feminist side.

This movie is opened by a scene where the Huns succeeded to pass the northern border which is the Great Wall and surprised everybody included the emperor himself. Then, he told his assistant, Chi Fu, to gather as many men as he can. At first, his General insisted that his army can handle this problem, but the emperor did not want to take any risks and said "A single grain of rice can tip the scale. One man may be the difference between victory and defeat." (The Emperor - Mulan; 1998). Therefore, in the beginning, the country was only counting on men to fight and defend China. They would have never expected that a woman would save the country in the end.

Then, the story shift to Mulan, the main character, was preparing herself to meet the matchmaker. She had to face a matchmaker in order to get a fine husband and make her family proud. However, in the end, she was not succeeded and the matchmaker said, "You may look like a bride, but you will never bring your family honor!" (The Matchmaker - Mulan; 1998). In this part, Mulan seemed like a failure both as a daughter and also as a woman. As a woman, she could not fulfill ideal norm of the society, which was to find a good man, marry him and get some children. Because of that, she also could not fulfill her job as a daughter, which was to bring honor to her family. Actually, this kind of perception is a typical of patriarchy construction.

Something surprising happened when the assistant of the emperor asked one man from each family to come and serve the country as an army. Because Mulan's father was the only man in the Fa family, it meant that only he could do that job. However, Mulan realized that her father was not fit enough to do that job, so she decided to replace him. Then, she cut her long hair, which was a feminity sign of a girl, and stole his father armor and sword. She dressed as a man and ran away from her house to the training camp. In that training camp, she became a man, named Ping.

After that, Mulan tried to survive in the training camp. At first, it was very hard for her to adapt with the masculine environment. Instead of making friends with the men, she made some problems that troubled her until she was almost sent away by her captain, Li Shang. However, because of her strong will and bravery, she managed to stay at the camp until the end and even surpass his male mates at the camp. She could do the things that were supposed to do by men such as fight, climb and run with heavy burden and also shoot the arrow and cannon. It shows that woman also can do man things if she has the will and brave enough.

After the training camp, the soldiers that had been trained had to face the real war field. They were shocked when they arrived in the General Camp because everything were on fire and they could not find anybody who were still alive. So, they continued their journey. In the journey, Mushu, Mulan's dragon, shoot a cannon accidentally and made the enemy knew their position. After that, in the snowy mountains, they fought the Huns that had more people compared to them, while they only had one cannon left. Suddenly, Mulan got a good idea and she did a very brave and effective action. Because of that action, Mulan was hurt by Shan Yu, the Huns' leader. However, she had the courage to take a risk and managed to bury all the Huns at once; even she could save her captain who was almost died. This scene shows a very brave action that was done by Ping, who was actually a woman. After that, her captain praised her and said "From now on, you have my trust." (Shang Yu - Mulan; 1998). Then, all of her friends also praised and cheers for her.

Then, the story goes to the central of the city. In fact, Shan Yu and several of his people were not died and they got to the city to do their plan. Mulan who happened to be a woman again knew it and try to convince her captain and also the other about it. However, there was no one believing her. In the end, Mulan, with her woman appearance, succeeded to save the emperor and also the country, China. She proved that she could do such heroic things, which were identical to manly things at that time, and, actually, succeeded to save the people. Woman who was used to consider as a weak creature, had shown a great and strong physical power.

After all she had done, the Emperor even bowed to her and after that all the people also did the same thing. This scene was a very dramatic woman. Everybody bowed toward Mulan, who was only an ordinary woman in the beginning even had been considered fail as a woman, and she seemed not really believed what had happened. She was given several precious things such as the Shan Yu's sword and the crest of the emperor for all the good things she had done. The emperor even offered her a position in the council member, which was dominated by men at that time. However, she refused it because she wanted to see her father first.

Next, she got back to home and met her father. She showed the awards to his father. Instead of appreciating the awards, he threw those things, hugged Mulan and said "The greatest gift and honor is having you for a daughter." (Mulan's Father - Mulan; 1998). This line really shows how Mulan, at last, appreciated as a woman. Her father admitted that Mulan had done the right thing. As a woman, she had proved that she can brought her family honor without doing an ideal woman things such as found a right man and then married him.

The Patriarchal Side of "Mulan"

Besides trying to empowering woman, this movie actually also has a lot of ideal woman stereotyping at that time. Before Mulan met the matchmaker, she was memorizing some words such as "Quiet and demure. Graceful. Polite. Delicate. Refined. Poised. Punctual." (Mulan - Mulan; 1998) Actually, those words implicitly show the typical of ideal woman in Chinese dynasty time. Although 'quiet and demure' gives positive connotation, those words had bad effects for women at that time. Woman had to keep her mind and she did not have the right to express her opinion, especially in front of men. It can be a proof of how a strong patriarchy system made a woman cannot have important role in the society.

Furthermore, in the song "Honor to Us All" and "A Girl Worth Fighting For", there are also some characteristics mentioned in the songs. Again, it shows typical woman that the men were looking for. In the song "Honor to Us All", which was sang when Mulan was getting ready to meet the mach maker, "men want girls with good taste, calm, obedient, who works fast-paced, with good breeding, and a tiny waist." Those characters were another effect of the patriarchy system. So, when a woman did not fit that qualification, she could be considered as a fail woman. That main point was brought up again in the song "A Girl Worth Fighting For", which was sung when the soldiers finished their training and got ready to face the real war. In this song, these ideal characteristics were even getting clearer because this time the men who were mentioning it. One man said "I want her paler than the moon with eyes that shine like stars. My girl will marvel at my strength, adore my battle scars." This emphasizes more to the physical appearance of a woman, that she should look beautiful. Besides that, this song also emphasizes the stereotyping beside man and woman. While Po, the biggest and calm soldier, said that "I couldn't care less what she'll wear or what she look like it all depends on what she cooks like beef, pork, chicken." It resembles that woman's task related to domestics jobs such as taking care households, kitchen things and others.

These ideal woman characteristics, which were being repeated from the beginning until the end of the movie, seem wanted to emphasize the actual message for woman. The movies do show some feminist qualities, but it still keeps the patriarchal idea. Almost all of the ideal characteristics describe a woman's physical qualities Therefore, it wants to say that you can be a feminist, but still you cannot abandon the patriarchal norms that have already alive.

Mulan, as the only daughter of Fa family, had a great responsible which were "to not uproot my family tree. Keep my father standing tall." (Honor To Us All - Mulan; 1998) This responsible was another effect of patriarchal system. In a patriarchal system, father or man is the center of the family. In this song, instead of only saying "making my family proud" as general, she emphasized more to her father. Her concern was only about his father because when she made her family ashamed, it would be considered as her father responsibility.

Therefore, her intention to replace her father can also be related to the effect of patriarchal system. Mulan decided to dress as a man and came to the training camp because she felt responsible to her father, which was also the effect of patriarchal system. After all the failure she did as a woman, she wanted to cover it by doing these things. She considered that did those things were the right things for her. Just like she said when everybody knew her real identity, "Maybe I didn't go for my father. Maybe what I really wanted was to prove I could do things right. " (Mulan - Mulan; 1998).

The wound that she got from her brave action in the snowy mountains had revealed her real identity as a woman. After all the praise she got, everything seemed to be the other way around. The Emperor advisor, Chi Fu, who had suspicious to her, dragged her out harshly from the tend and said "a woman" with a shocking and disgusting tone. He showed Mulan to the soldiers and also saying harsh things such as, "Treacherous snake!", "High treason!", "Ultimate dishonor!". All of Mulan's good things were forgotten only because she was a woman. It really shows that woman had lower status compared to men. Although it was a very heroic action and helpful to other, it will not lasted if the one that did it was a woman.

If we see again from all the things that had happened to Mulan, she was appreciated after she was dressed as man. People gave some respect to her after she was "trained" to be a man at the training camp. That man characters still stick to Mulan until the end of the story. When she was a woman, at first, she was unappreciated because she could not bring honor to her family as a good daughter. Even, after she appreciated as a man and back as a woman, she got back to the reality that women are not appreciated and still underestimated by the society. As a conclusion, in "Mulan", women, actually, are appreciated by the society when they became and act like men.

Conclusion

"Mulan" shows that the function of feminism is only to the strong masculinity construction in the society. If we only take a glance, then it seems that man and woman already have an equal position and role. However, it turns out that the winning of feminism happened because of the masculinity construction. In other words, masculinity has an important role behind the success that Mulan got in the end. Therefore, feminism is not really an easy thing to get and a strong patriarchy construction will not be easily broken.

In one side, this movie is empowering women. It shows that woman also can have an important role in the society. On the other side, this movie still limited women according to the patriarchal norms that were existed. However, this movie is a seed of the feminism nowadays. "Mulan" does not really show a perfect kind of feminism, but it makes women to think that they can try to do something for the society.

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Studying The Feminism In The Movie Mulan English Literature Essay

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Disclaimer: This work has been submitted by a student. This is not an example of the work produced by our Essay Writing Service. You can view samples of our professional work here. Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of UK Essays.

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I will use this for Mulan's character

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Despite its release twenty years ago, Mulan remains a favorite of the Disney classics. The film features a strong main female character who is relatable an…

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I will use this to write about the Huns (the antagonist)

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Disney's Mulan takes a hammer to a Chinese puzzle

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Alex von Tunzelmann: The new live action update will hopefully do better than this marauding animated effort

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The series of Events in Mulan that I could use for the synopsis

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Intro to Chinese Culture

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Mulan's origins most likely arose as a merger between the Tuoba (Toba) clan of the Xianbei culture and the Han Chinese. The Tuoba, whom originated from the far northeast, managed to conquer and rule northern China during the Northern Wei Dynasty (AD 386-534) despite being vastly outnumbered.

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Gender Roles in Mulan

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More On Mulan's history

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+1-650-209-6464 (MING) TutorMing Help
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How Disney's "Mulan" Brazenly Challenges Gender and Sexuality

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How Disney's "Mulan" Brazenly Challenges Gender and Sexuality

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Mulan challenges gender and sexuality

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How Disney’s “Mulan” Brazenly Challenges Gender and Sexuality | Features | Roger Ebert

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An essay on the subversive tendencies of Disney’s “Mulan.”

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I will use this for Mulan's character dissection

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Find the latest news from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, Disney+, and National Geographic, all in one place.

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Feminist and Queer Analysis of Disney's Mulan

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Feminist and Queer Analysis of Disney's Mulan

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How the movie Mulan displays feminism

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Feminist and Queer Analysis of Disney's Mulan

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Feminist and Queer Analysis of Disney's Mulan

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Disney released the film Mulan in 1998 during the third wave of feminism, so perhaps this can explain why at first glance, Mulan seems to be a feminist film encouraging the individual...

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The transformation of a female worr

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Transformations of The Woman Warrior Hua Mulan: From Defender of The Family...: Discovery Service for Los Medanos College

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A Warrior, She takes on Huns and Stereotypes 

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A Warrior, She takes on Huns and Stereotypes 

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Women can be warriers too

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Disney takes a sledgehammer to the subject of gender stereotyping in ''Mulan,'' a film that not only breaks the cross-dressing barrier but also ratchets up the violence level for children's animation. ''Sign me up for the next war!'' exclaims the heroine's grandmother, in a show of what does not precisely qualify as progress for women. And for all its supposed daring in presenting a bold female warrior, ''Mulan'' takes no steps forward when it comes to Disney's animation renaissance. This is the most inert and formulaic of recent Disney animated films, right down to the clowning sidekicks and would-be ''Under the Sea'' production number. This time there's a big musical sequence about basic training.

''Who spit in her bean curd?'' wisecracks one character in this supposedly Eastern fable, which often seems about as Chinese as chop suey. When not falling back on ancient shtick, ''Mulan'' rails against gender prejudice by trotting out every storytelling stereotype in the Disney playbook. These include the Destiny ballad, in which a questing young person sings about becoming his or her true self (''When will my reflection show who I am inside?'' Mulan wonders musically), and the fight against cartoonishly wicked heavies. Political correctness as intense as this film's leaves gray-faced, yellow-eyed Huns as the only group available for demonization.

Mulan, the rare Disney character to have two parents and a granny, must count on marriage to settle her fate as the story begins. A group of twittering female relatives doll her up demurely for a visit to the matchmaker, singing ''Wait and see, when we're through, boys will gladly go to war for you.'' Even the tiniest viewers should see how wrongly and repressively she is being treated. In case they miss the point, the film shows girls and boys being made to play with dolls and swords respectively, and not being allowed to switch roles.

Mulan (with the voice of Ming-Na Wen) makes her own switch when her father is conscripted for military service and nobly prepares to leave home despite his infirm health. So his daughter bravely takes his place. She disguises herself as a man and joins the army, accompanied by a tiny dragon named Mushu who perches on her shoulder to give advice. Though Mushu has the very funny voice of Eddie Murphy to make him lovable, this black-sounding character is treated as a servile clown. When he hollers ''Call out for egg roll!,'' there's something to offend everyone.

Reverent as it is in the depiction of Mulan as a woman warrior, the film presents most of its male characters as buffoons. (Or worse: ''I never want to see a naked man again!'' exclaims Mulan after having to watch the other soldiers bathe.) The exceptions are the wise old Emperor (voice of Pat Morita), Mulan's estimable father and a General's son named Shang (with the voice of B. D. Wong), who has the huge square jaw of any Disney hero. For all of Mulan's courage and independence in rebelling against the matchmakers, this is still enough of a fairy tale to need Mr. Right.

Though the plot and setting present exotic new opportunities for the filmmakers, the China of ''Mulan'' has surprisingly little depth of field or background detail. The Great Wall and the Forbidden City are here, but so are a lot of empty spaces and scenes in which only one figure moves. As directed by two first-time feature filmmakers, Barry Cook and Tony Bancroft, the film works harder at staging computer-enhanced battle scenes with swooping camera movement and loads of extras, more little figures than its technical prowess can accommodate. (Try looking at the back rows in any crowd scene.) When animation strains to mimic overpopulated live-action films, it loses sight of its own magical ability to envision wondrous, fanciful things we could not otherwise see.

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FILM REVIEW; A Warrior, She Takes on Huns and Stereotypes

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Disney takes a sledgehammer to the subject of gender stereotyping in ''Mulan,'' a film that not only breaks the cross-dressing barrier but also ratchets up the violence level for children's animation. ''Sign me up for the next war!'' exclaims the heroine's grandmother, in a show of what does not precisely qualify as progress for women.

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The Dramatic True Story Of Disney's Mulan 

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The Dramatic True Story Of Disney's Mulan 

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Mulan is a true historic story

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Hua Mulan is one of the most legendary women of ancient China. Her story was originally described in a poem known as the Ballad of Mulan. There is no archaeological proof that she was a real person, but tales of her heroic actions are told in ancient text. Although her story was documented in literature only, it's also taught in today's Chinese schools.

In Chinese "Huā" means "flower" and "Mùlán" means magnolia. The magnolia flower is one of the symbols of China since ancient times. However, there is different information about Mulan's possible roots, and her family name is uncertain. In the text History of the Ming , her family name is Zhu, but in History of the Qing it is Wei. The only sure information is that her story is connected with the history of China in the 4th or 5th century AD.

The Origins of the Ballad

The original source of Mulan's story came from one folk song in the North Wei Dynasty (386 AD - 557 AD) which was called The Ballad of Mulan . The first known transcription of The Ballad of Mulan comes from the 6th century. Unfortunately, the original work no longer exists and the text of this poem comes from another work known as the Music Bureau Collection . This is an anthology of lyrics, songs, and poems compiled by Guo Maoqian during the 11th or 12th century. The author explicitly states that the Musical Records of Old and New was his source for the poem about Mulan.

The next appearance of Mulan's tale came in the late Ming Dynasty. In 1593, the playwright Xu Wei dramatized the legend as The Female Mulan or The Heroine Mulan Goes to War in Her Father's Place. It was a play in two acts. The last of the most important versions of the Ballad was incorporated into the Sui-Tang Romance , a historical novel written by Chu Renhuo in the 17th century. Thus, the folk tale about the warrior woman Hua Mulan stayed alive in people's memories.

The Story of the Bravest Heroine of Chinese Poetry

The oldest known Ballad of Mulan consists of 31 couplets and is composed of mostly five-character phrases. The legend of Mulan has been written with many variations, but the plot is always the same: Mulan was washing clothes when she heard that the army was recruiting new soldiers. To save her old and ailing father, Huan Hu, she decided to be recruited as his "son." She knew that her father was too old and too ill to survive the war, so she decided to disguise herself as a man to go in his place.

The tale continues with Mulan leaving for the battlefield carrying the sword inherited from the ancestors of the family. She fought for ten or twelve years and gained high merit, but refused any reward and retired to her hometown instead. During the war, she met an officer, who is normally named Jin Yong , with whom she fell in love.

Legends say that after 10 years on the battlefield Mulan was promoted to general. When Jin Yong learned that Mulan was a woman, he became more attached to her. In many versions of the story both Mulan and Jin Yong dream about getting married to each other. In time, other soldiers also started to find out that Mulan was a woman.

One day, before a very difficult battle, Mulan decided to go onto the battlefield in women's clothing so her soldiers would realize her true identity. The reaction of the soldiers was one full of respect and admiration. They were overwhelmed by her bravery, grace, and wisdom. Thus, she inspired her army to win a battle once more.
Mulan in battle. ( Disneyfied or Disney tried ?)
After another heroic triumph, the emperor wanted to reward Mulan. He was surprised that the bravest of his soldiers was a female. However, Mulan asked for nothing but a horse to ride home. Many variations of the story say that when Mulan returned home she discovered that her father passed away. In these accounts, she doesn't feel like a hero, but instead like she lost the love of her life. She is also depicted in these folk tales as haunted by her experiences on the battlefield. Feeling lonely and misunderstood, the legend says that she decided to commit suicide.

The Real Mulan

Traditionally, Mulan's life is placed in the time of the Northern Wei, however, many details of her story were added during the reign of the Tang dynasty around 620 AD. In 621, the founder of the Tang dynasty was victorious over Wang Shichong and Dou Jiande, and another story about a warrior woman appeared at this time. Legends about both of these women were eventually connected into one story.

The history of Mulan came about because in the 4th and 5th century China was suffering under the invasion of a nomadic ethnic group. The central government was completely destroyed by the "barbarian" group. The war was terrible and warriors needed a source of hope. The wars took more than three centuries and affected many parts of the Chinese Empire. Therefore, a woman solider (in the form of Mulan or others) was a phenomenon which inspired soldiers to fight.

Mulan in the Modern World

The legend of Hua Mulan comes back to life every time that China needs hope and inspiration. The character of Mulan has remained a very popular motif in art and literature. She appears as a heroine of more than 10 movies and theater plays. She is also a popular heroine of modern novels and researched books. Her monuments are located in many places around the world. Even a crater on Venus is named after her. Hua Mulan is a symbol of bravery and honor. Chinese people believe that she was a real person... and as long as she inspires them, it may not matter to them whether that is the truth.
Featured image: The Story of Mulan. Source: Chinese Garden 101
By: Natalia Klimczak

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The Ballad of Hua Mulan: The Legendary Warrior Woman Who Brought Hope to China

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Hua Mulan is one of the most legendary women of ancient China. Her story was originally described in a poem known as the Ballad of Mulan. There is no archaeological proof that she was a real person, but tales of her heroic actions are told in ancient text.