Hua Mulan

Oil painting on silk, "Hua Mulan Goes to War"

花木蘭

花木兰

Huā Mùlán

Transliterations
Gan
- Romanization	fa1 muk6 lan4
Mandarin
- Hanyu Pinyin	Huā Mùlán
- Wade–Giles	hua¹ mu⁴ lan²
Cantonese
- Jyutping	fa¹ muk⁶ laan⁴

Hua Mulan is a heroine who joined an all-male army, described in a Chinese poem known as the Ballad of Mulan. The poem was first written in the Musical Records of Old and New from the 6th century, the century before the founding of the Tang Dynasty; the original work no longer exists, and the original text of this poem comes from another work known as the Music Bureau Collection, an anthology of lyrics, songs, and poems, compiled by Guo Maoqian during the 12th century. The author explicitly mentions the Musical Records of Old and New as his source for the poem. Whether she was a historical person or whether the poem was an allegory has been debated for centuries—it is unknown whether the story has any factual basis.

The time setting of the story is uncertain. The earliest accounts of the legend state that she lived during the Northern Wei dynasty (386–534).

The poem is a ballad, meaning that the lines do not necessarily have equal numbers of syllables. The poem is mostly composed of five-character phrases, with just a few extending to seven or nine.

The story was expanded into a novel during the late Ming Dynasty (1368–1644). Over time, the story of Hua Mulan rose in popularity as a folk tale among the Chinese people on the same level as the Butterfly Lovers. It is one of the first poems in Chinese history to support the notion of gender equality, but has also been interpreted by authors such as Maxine Hong Kingston (The Woman Warrior) to represent Chinese culture as sexist. In 1998, Disney released an animated movie entitled Mulan based on the story.

1 Name
2 Popular culture
3 See also
4 References
5 External links

Name

The word mulan refers to the "Magnolia liliiflora". (mù by itself means "wood" and lán means "orchid".) The heroine of the poem is given many different family names in versions of her story. According to History of the Ming, her family name is Zhu, while the History of the Qing say it is Wei. The name Huā (meaning "flower") has become the most popular in recent years in part to its more poetic meaning. Her complete name is then 花木蘭, transcribed as Huā Mùlán in Pinyin and Hua1 Mu4-lan2 in Wade-Giles.

The Disney animated film popularised the version "Fa Mulan". This "Fa" pronunciation of " 花 " is found in various Chinese languages including Cantonese whilst in Mandarin it is pronounced "Hua". "Mulan" is the phonetic translation from Mandarin.

Popular culture

English language literature

Yao Mulan, Lin Yutang's main character in his 1939 English-language novel Moment in Peking, is named after the legendary warrior.
Maxine Hong Kingston re-visited Mulan's tale in her 1975 text, The Woman Warrior. Kingston's version popularized the story in the West and led to an adaptation by Disney, but contained many arbitrary changes that have been widely criticized by other Asian-American scholars, such as Frank Chin.
In The Dragonstone by Dennis McKiernan (1996), the character Aiko is a Hua Mulan inspired warrior who sneaks off to battle against imperial decree.
In the alternative-history fantasy series Temeraire, by Naomi Novik, specifically, the book Throne of Jade (2006), the legend of Mulan is (indirectly) referred to, as a woman taking her father's place in the military, assuming the role of an aerial commander on dragonback. In deference to this honored legend, all officers in the Chinese Aerial Corps are women, which sets it apart from the English Corps, which uses female officers only for Longwings, a dragon breed which refuses male captains.
Cameron Dokey created 'Wild Orchid' in 2009, a retelling of the Ballad of Mulan as part of the Once Upon A Time (novel series), a series of novels published by Simon Pulse, an imprint of Simon & Schuster.

The Legend of Mu Lan: A Heroine of Ancient China (http://www.heroinesinhistory.com/mulan.html) was the first English language picture book featuring the character Mulan published in the United States in 1992 by Victory Press.

Films

The story of Hua Mulan has inspired a number of film and stage adaptations without taking into account pre-modern Chinese plays and operas about the subject. These include the following:

Hua Mulan Joins the Army (1927 film) – a Chinese silent film released by the Tianyi Film Company and directed by Li Pingqian
Mulan Joins the Army (1928 film) – Mingxin Film Company production, directed by Hou Yao. The film was unsuccessful, in part due to the Tianyi film that was released the previous year
Mulan Joins the Army (1939 film) – popular Chinese film made during the war, directed by Bu Wancang
Lady General Hua Mulan (1964 film) – Hong Kong opera film
A Tough Side of a Lady (1998 film) – Hong Kong TVB drama series of Mulan starring Mariane Chan as Hua Mu Lan
Mulan (1998 film) – Disney animated feature based on the Mulan legend
Mulan II (2004 film) – Disney animated sequel following Mulan
Hua Mu Lan (1999 series) – Taiwan CTV period drama serial starring Anita Yuen as Hua Mu Lan
Mulan (2009 film) – Live action film about the Chinese Legend. Stars Zhao Wei (Vicky Zhao) as Hua Mulan and Chen Kun as Wentai, and theme song sung by award-winning songstress Stefanie Sun.

Miscellaneous

Hua Mulan Crater on Venus is named after her.
A character inspired by Hua Mulan is the mascot of the FIFA Women's World Cup 2007 in China.
New Tang Dynasty TV's 2006 Chinese Spectacular featured a stage performance of the story of Mulan.
Hua Mulan was included as a card in the Anachronism card game by TriKings in 2005.^[1]
In 2005–2006, the Disney movie was replicated as a playable world in the video game Kingdom Hearts II.
In the Discovery Channel series "Warrior Women", aptly hosted by actress Lucy Lawless, the legend of Mulan is incorrectly referenced as having been inspired by the true story of Chinese female general Wang Cong'er.
A black comedy parody of the Mulan story was done in American McGee's Grimm (2008–2009, where the title character changes the story to make Mulan a bloodthirsty misandrist.

Games

Mulan has inspired a number of video games and characters adaptations taking Mulan into modern Chinese culture and across the globe. These include the following: