Mulan: Five Versions of a Classic Chinese Legend, with Related Texts

by Shiamin Kwa (Editor, Translator), Wilt L. Idema (Editor, Translator)

The legend of Mulan the daughter who disguises herself as a man, dons her father's armor, and heads off to war in his place remains one of the most popular Chinese folktales despite (or because of) its lack of supernatural demonstrations or interventions.This volume offers lively translations of the earliest recorded version of the legend and several later iterations of the tale (including the screenplay of the hugely successful 1939 Chinese film Mulan Joins the Army), illustrating the many ways that reinterpretations of this basic story reflect centuries of changes in Chinese cultural, political, and sexual attitudes.An Introduction traces the evolution of the Mulan legend and its significance in the history of Chinese popular culture. Annotation explaining terms and references unfamiliar to Western readers, a glossary, and a comprehensive bibliography further enhance the value of this volume for both scholars and students.

Genres: China, Classics, Poetry, History, Asian Literature, Asia, Historical

136 pages, Paperback

First published September 14, 2010

Reviews

[Helmut · Rating 4 out of 5]

Huhn und Henne
Neulich erst habe ich mir darüber Gedanken gemacht, wie leicht es uns eigentlich fällt, Männlein und Weiblein auf den ersten Blick voneinander zu unterscheiden, selbst von hinten und in neutralen Winterklamotten. Scheinbar geht das aber nicht allen so, auch wenn unterschwellig dann immer eine Unsicherheit mitschwingt.

Huo Qubing: You're such a handsome young man - you look just like a tender girl.

Trotzdem fällt es mir schwer, die Vorstellung zu akzeptieren, dass ein als ausgesprochen hübsch beschriebenes junges Mädel sich mehr als 10 Jahre als Soldat unter Männern hat verstecken können. Wir sind ja nicht wie Mulans in dieser Geschichte immer wieder zitierte Hasenpärchen, bei dem der Pelz alles verdeckt.

Letztlich geht es aber wohl eher um etwas anderes: Nicht die recht oberflächliche Tatsache, dass Mulan von keinem als Frau erkannt wird ist die Lehre der Geschichte, sondern die, dass Erfolg und Können nicht am Geschlecht hängen.

Xin Ping: I have done no more than lend wind to the sail of a boat going with the current.

Gerade für die altchinesische Gesellschaft eine überraschend revolutionäre Idee, die die Herausgeber und Übersetzer in ihrem Vorwort aber direkt wieder einbremsen:

Mulan is ultimately not a role model to women, who are expected to stay at home to serve the family as her sister does, but a role model to men.

Allein schon, dass nach ihren ganzen Erfolgen am Ende Mulan doch wieder im Schoß der Familie webt und auch direkt heiratet, beweist dies. Es sind die Männer, die angesprochen werden: Wollt ihr euch wirklich von einer Frau beschämen lassen? Wenn man genauer hinschaut, bröckelt der moderne Gedanke der selbständigen Frau, und übrig bleibt eine Bestärkung des Patriachats, das nur eine kleine Schwächeperiode erlebt, und wieder erstarken wird, wenn sich nur die Männer endlich von der Geschichte inspiriren lassen und aufraffen.

Neben der Frage, ob Frauen zu ähnlichen Leistungen fähig sind wie Männer, legt die Geschichte von Mulan aber auch tiefere gesellschaftliche und soziale Gegebenheiten offen, die spannend und erhellend von Kwa und Idema besprochen werden.

Femaleness is a kind of social role: it is an addition to the essential humanity of the male role.

Mulan kann ihr Frausein zu Beginn ablegen, indem sie ihre Füße entbindet und ihr Makeup entfernt; und am Ende wird sie wieder zur Frau, durch Schminken und Heiraten. Diese Schlussfolgerung einiger zeitgenössischer Kommentatoren ist zwar interessant, aber nicht wirklich überzeugend, denn man kann das auch umkehren: Mulan wird schließlich zum Mann durchs Einkaufen der Kriegerutensilien wie Sattel, Speer und Zaumzeug, und dann wieder zur Frau durch Ablegen dieser Gegenstände.

Aren't we all simply playing parts?

Die unterschiedlichen Varianten der Mulan-Geschichte, die hier präsentiert werden, betonen alle eine unterschiedliche Facette, meist eine, die in der Entstehungszeit der Variante besonders spannend war - in den frühen Dynastien die xiao, also der Respekt gegenüber den Eltern, eine der wichtigsten konfuzianischen Tugenden; in der ausgehenden Qing-Dynastie die Loyalität gegenüber dem Herrscherhaus; in der frühen Republik der Nationalpatriotismus. Auch die Frage der Freiwilligkeit wird in den Versionen unterschiedlich beantwortet: In den frühen Fassungen wird Mulan von den Umständen zu ihrer Handlung gezwungen; in den späten tut sie es aus freien Stücken und fast fanatisch.

Wie alle Veröffentlichung von Idema, ein sehr lesenswertes Buch, das erneut eine klassische Legende aus unterschiedlichen Perspektiven zeigt und erläutert. Ein großartiges Vorwort tröstet darüber hinweg, dass die Handlungszusammenfassungen in den Anhängen etwa mühselig und sehr prosaisch zu lesen sind, im Gegensatz zu den hier übersetzten Originaltexten, in denen man immer wieder über wunderschöne Formulierungen stolpert.

I've come to see
The forest of spears and trees of sabers,
And people killed in great numbers.

Vielleicht ist das die größte Leistung Mulans: Den Staub der Vergangenheit und der Jahre der Täuschung abzuklopfen, und sich darauf zu besinnen, was man wirklich ist.

[Mel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this series of books. Idema is taking different versions of classic Chinese tales and showing different ways they've evolved through time. This version takes 5 different versions of Mulan, the first two early ballards, and the last two twentieth century interpretations. What I liked best about these was that in all these versions no one guessed that Mulan was a woman and she was always highly skilled. There were interesting emphasis between the stories on gender roles. I borrowed this from the library but will probably buy a copy for myself.

[Sasha (bahareads) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hua Mulan is a legendary female warrior from the Northern and Southern Dynasty period of Chinese history. The name and tale of Hua Mulan are famous in the west because of the Disney movie Mulan; however, the tale has been changed and twisted throughout time. The beginning of the tale of Mulan goes back to the “Ballad of Mulan.” “The Ballad of Mulan” was transcribed in the Musical Records of Old and New in the 6th century, but the text version is found in the 11th or 12th century of the Music Bureau Collection. Guo Maoqian helped put the “Ballad of Mulan” in the Music Bureau Collection which contains literature from the Han dynasty (206 – 220 CE) throughout the Tang dynasty (618 – 907 CE) to the Five Dynasties (907 – 979 CE). The “Ballad of Mulan” is dated around the northeastern conflicts of the Northern Wei period (386 – 533 CE). The “Song of Mulan” is dated 755 – 779 CE during the Tang Dynasty. In the late Ming Dynasty (1368 – 1644 CE), the playwright Xu Wei created the play “The Female Mulan Goes to War in Her Father’s Place.” Later Hua Mulan was made into a character in the Sui-Tang Romance called the Historical Romance of the Sui and Tang. In 1903 a Perking opera script was published called Mu Lan Joins the Army. In 1939 film Mulan Joins the Army was produced in China during the Japanese occupation of China.

“Depending on the time, region and genre in which the version was created, each is unique and brings its own perspective and meaning to the story.” The story of Mulan takes on different emphases depending on the time period and the author. Honour, family, courage, nationalism, and self-sacrifice are the worldviews that are pushed throughout every story in which Hua Mulan appears. These worldviews are derived from Confucianism and Taoism. In the early stories, the emphasis is on honour and family with Mulan taking her father’s place than slipping back into her role as a demure girl in her family. In later tales, the emphasis is on nationalism; if a girl can go to war, than any man can and should go to war for his country. One of the 16th-century plays of Mulan was not concerned with giving the audience a moral but entertainment. In Xu Wei adaptation, Mulan is driven to commit suicide to express her pureness; “Mulan has to go to the extremes of suicide to make her mark in history.” In the 1917 interpretation, Mulan Joins the Army “the patriotic Mulan [is] over the virtuous and filial Mulan.” When reading the different versions of Mulan, one can see the author’s purpose for the story with what is emphasized within the story. The different dynasties of China and Chinese cultural had reason to use Mulan with different emphasis.


The people involved in the creation of Mulan vary. Hua Mulan’s surname sometimes changes into Zhu or another surname. Knowing who the authors of Mulan are is imperative because then the reader knows that what and why is being emphasized in Mulan; is it virtue or patriotism, does Mulan go back to her role of a demure daughter, commit suicide or take on a different role as she is welcomed back into her family. When Mulan’s thinking is changed in the versions that make a difference in her actions and the overall portrayal of the story. The purpose of the Mulan varies depending on the author. The lessons morph to what the time-period needed it to be. In modern-day Disney Mulan, Mulan is trying to be true to herself in the face of her culture, which is almost the total opposite of the Chinese Mulan was trying to portray. Chinese Mulan wanted to do what was best for her country and family; her parents had not many objections when she volunteers to take her father’s place. The conclusion of the far-east versions of Mulan is family before self, nation before self, and honour before all else. The western version is more lighthearted than all else. “Mulan is ultimately not a role model to women, who are expected to stay at home to serve the family as her sister does, but a role model to men.” Mulan is a role model to Chinese men; realistically, most Chinese women could never hope to do what Mulan did. Mulan has been transformed in the hands of writers and directors, that she has transformed.
“Committing acts of daring beyond the abilities of men, morally or martially, should not be immediately interpreted as evidence of a willingness to valorize women over men … Mulan’s moral superiority may just be another way of arguing for the necessity of keeping her contained within the safe and protected confines of the domestic sphere. Through the interpretations and variations of the legend of Mulan may differ, Mulan herself endures: she is, after all, no stranger to change.”
Mulan shows how Chinese culture changes throughout time and how women and men are perceived throughout time.

I appreciated Mulan: Five Versions of a Classic Chinese Legend with Related Texts. I was interested in reading this book after listening to the History Chicks “Mulan” podcast and doing more research on the live-action Mulan Disney movie that is supposed to come out soon. I did not realize how butchered the Western version of the Disney Mulan was, and how the Chinese people did not like that version at all. My interest helped propel me to pick Mulan: Five Versions of a Classic Chinese Legend with Related Texts up. I loved it the translators do a great job with relating the text and putting it into history. If you are interested in Chinese history and culture, then you should read Mulan: Five Versions of a Classic Chinese Legend with Related Texts. The different versions of Mulan are entertaining and humorous, and the commentary on the different stories add a new depth to the stories itself.

[JLJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Though the interpretations and variations of the legend of Mulan may differ, Mulan herself endures : she is, after all, no stranger to change."

An insightful and well researched look at the evolution of the myth of Mulan.

[Piper Winchester · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not used to reading play scripts but I got an idea of the setting.
I've only known one of the legends so it was nice to see other sides of the story

[Andre · Rating 4 out of 5]

Can Mulan be interpreted as nationalistic, xenophobic and sexist against women? After reading this book, I must conclude: it can!!!

I decided to read this because it seemed to be a worthwhile endeavor, unlike wasting any more time on the next Disney cash-grab. If just the introduction wasn't 32 pages long!
Considered what the introduction had in terms of information, I really wonder why it wasn’t simply chapter 1. Because apparently the original poem probably was not about equality for women but revealing the inadequacies of men.
The "Historical Romance of the Sui and Tang" has a version of Mulan where she has a Turkish father, once again there is a khan instead of an emperor, and here we have the first appearance of a secondary female warrior named Dou Xianniang, and Mulan commits suicide to escape the harem of the Khan.
The version "The Story of the Loyal, Filial, and Heroic Mulan" adds supernatural elements like mystical and secret fighting techniques given by her grandfather and Mulan battles and triumphs over a fox spirit. Also, there she is made a princess and returns home to care for her orphaned brothers. And she also commits suicide. Because reasons.
So in “The Female Mulan” the bandit king's daughter falls in love with "Hua Hu".. where is the lesbian version of that story?
However, the novel "An Extraordinary History of the Northern Wei: The Story of a Filial and Heroic Girl" sounds way more interesting. And am I mistaken, or does it end with Mulan and her friend Wanhua marrying the same guy?
Was this 1903 opera called "Mulan joins the Army" the one that turned her into a Han Chinese? Plus, this description of "an ethnic Han nationalist heroic struggle against threatening foreign" forces and the whole role model for the new Chinese woman sounds like something you could interpret the Disney animated version as.
And while this information was interesting, I was happy when the introduction was over. 32 pages of introduction and they are not even included for the page count of this book; it should be 168 pages and not 136.

And it is still astounding how none of her companions ever noticed that she was a girl. No matter what version, that always happens. And of course, "Song of Mulan" just had to ruin its feminist leanings by revealing itself as basically saying "look, you men are so bad that a woman can do it better than you" no idea whether the play "The Female Mulan Joins the Army in Place of Her Father" has the same issues. All I know is that it had so many references and synonyms for foot binding that I had to look at the notes all the time. The rest of the play was easier to read, but it was still obvious how written down plays don't work when compared to the stage. And speaking of plays: so not only was there once a play/version of the Mulan story where she and another soldier dressed as women, but also this 1903 play has a character named Mu Shu. Maybe I have given Disney and other cartoonists of the 90s too little credit.
This 1903 play not only also seems to have a sort of man-shaming attitude in the form of Mu Shu (albeit it can be interpreted differently), it also addresses the fact that "he-Mulan" looks like a girl, definitely has a nationalist, almost racist, element with its foreign invaders that should be exterminated and its focus on Han people.
I thought that this "Mulan joins the army" from 1937 mentioned here was the same movie I found on you tube called “Hua Mulan,” but doesn't look like it. In fact, looks like I was mistaken: This Mulan Joins the Army is a play and not a movie. So, is this the version where she fights a fox?
Or was it a film after all? This part of the book was confusing AND boring. Unlike the earlier ones.
Well, I hoped the appendices are better. And I would soon be done with this anyway.
The appendices were indeed better, it got early to the play with all the gay content, as not only is there the bandit daughter who has the hots for cross-dressed Mulan, but a superior is bisexual and also wants to tap that ass.
The "Hua Mulan" version from 1897 - 1914 seems standard as Mulan versions go, however. But at least somewhat distinct, afterwards there were three scripts of the same play and then these last two plays from 1932 and 42 I bet were clearly directed against the Japanese."
Towards the end there was also a short version of the story were Mulan has supernatural powers and was fighting a fox spirit. But it was not in a play but in a Qing dynasty era novel. I confused that apparently.
And sadly, this is another book that ends abruptly. Some closing chapter or passage would really be nice for a change.
So, in the end, this book has its flaws but it is clearly recommendable.

[Dwayne Coleman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This edition is important in collecting all of the different versions and giving readers some sense of what the origins of the Mulan legend are. I'll leave others to make aesthetic judgments, but I believe it to be valuable for readers seeking a better understanding of Chinese culture.

[Rosemarie Short · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fantastic book with five versions of the classic Chinese tale of Mulan. The thing which makes this stand out is the informed foreward with history of the tale. If you're interested in the story of Mulan then this is definitely a must read.

[Lyric · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating piece of Chinese entertainment and mythological history. It compares five interpretations of the tale of Mulan.

[Divia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wilt Idema and Shiamin Kwa provide five versions of Mulan, along with summaries of other versions. Several aspects of the story remain the same but the story does change over time due to social, cultural and political changes in China. Mulan has adapted throughout the years and she is still relevant today.

Idema and Kwa also provide a lot of notes to explain aspects of Chinese language and culture so that someone like me, who is not immersed in Chinese culture, can understand. They even analyse the cultural and gender norms as they are expressed in each version. Mulan finds a way of representing the time that it was written in.

The time period's importance is even important for me, a reader. The most recent version was actually most enjoyable, in my opinion. Mulan Joins the Army (1939) is the best out of the five versions presented.

Only the version that is a xianxia novel, The Story of the Wondrous Maiden Mulan is as good. This is one of the three novels summarized in the second appendix. The summary of the xianxia version has dragon gods, cultivation and a fox spirit that Mulan defeats. The ending is quite tragic though, so the 1939 screenplay provided a better outcome.

There is another fantastical one in the appendix: "An Extraordinary History of the Northern Wei: The Story of a Filial and Heroic Girl". This one has deadly cymbals and a magical arrow but it does not have as many supernatural elements as the one before. It does end on a happier note.

But Mulan is not a very fantastical story to begin with. It reads more like historical fiction. Fantasy in the sense that it's not real rather than fantasy in the sense of magic and the supernatural.

Gender does play a significant role in all versions, even the poems. Bodies are sexed but gendering affects child-rearing, socialization and the behaviour of the individual. Clothing and foot-binding mark gender. Mulan performs the masculine and feminine genders well. Ultimately, the masculine one is merely a means to an end: replace her father and save the country. She could have easily done it as a woman but the feminine gender is not given the same opportunity. If her body is discovered by the wrong man she might have suffered horribly. Mulan shames men into performing their expected gender roles. If a woman could do it; how can you, a man not be able to do it. It still places the woman beneath a man thus inspiring the shame. But it does show the limitations placed upon bodies by rigid gender norms. Ultimately, the feminine gender is only given more respect because Mulan behaves like a man. Femininity is still not valued equally as masculinity. But it does show that sexed bodies should not be confined to either gender. Mulan's ability to perform both seems to also reflect her gender as not being one or the other. She is comfortable and 'herself' because of both the masculine and the feminine. She ultimately identifies in the end as a woman and is comfortable being in that role. I think that the skills that she developed in war are a part of her despite her abandonment of them. She has done what men usually do and she can do what women do. They are all a part of her and to be honest, should not have been gendered but are gendered. Needlework is woman's work and war is man's work. They should not be gendered. Both men and women can do those things. Mulan altered what it means to be a woman and broadened the gender to include some masculine gendered acts, while retaining the feminine at the end. Most people do not confine themselves, their hobbies, etc to one or the other. Gender is quite complex and perhaps Mulan shows that best of all as she is able to perform acts associated with both genders. It is a shame that the men are shamed in this story rather than encouraged to expand acts that society thinks should be done by men. Perhaps more stories should be muddling what we think men's work should be and how we think they should behave. I do not think that shaming them for not fulfilling the so-called men's roles is the way to go.

Patriotism is a huge theme, apart from gender. In many of the stories the Enemy is Othered and just labelled as barbarians. In the play they are Barbarian 1 and Barbarian 2. They're not even named. They are underdeveloped. Perhaps that is the point. Why would anyone want to develop the evil side to be more than just the Other side to be vanquished by the heroic Mulan and her fellow patriots. Nationalism and patriotism usually end up with a 'them' and 'us' as seen in the play. I'm not saying the so-called barbarians are great people but their portrayal, like in many stories, further the agenda of the country at that particular point in time.

[Marc Kohlman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A remarkably comprehensive, detailed and insightful volume chronicling the 2,000 year old evolution of one of the most renowned warrior heroines. Like many Westerners I heard of Mulan from the 1998 Disney Animated film. As my interest in China's ancient history increased, so did my fascination with her brave exploits. Every version included is striking in all of their elaborations, embellishments and reinterpretations. Minus the supernatural inclusions present in more recent to modern views, they all highlight on the principles Mulan represents which were central in the 2020 live action film version: Loyal, Brave and True. Also the story's origins outside the peripherals of Middle Kingdom territory surprised me greatly, as it showed how both nomadic and Chinese cultures intermingled following the conflicts between both sides at the core of the story. I highly recommend this scholarly work for those inspired and captivated with the epic story and those who love Chinese literature and folklore. My admiration for the title character and the morals Mulan risks her life to honor has deepened having read this book. Learning how her story has cemented itself in the Chinese consciousness which has spread worldwide is truly impressive. As Professor Joseph Chang spoke of Mulan's significance in the modern age, "Mulan is not generally Chinese, nor is it all American. It has become a transcultural text. A combination of old and new, traditional and modern, East and West, collectivism and individualism, female submissiveness and women's liberation, filial piety and reciprocal love between father and daughter."

[Lauren Cooke · Rating 5 out of 5]

I only read the Poem of Mulan and the Song of Mulan and not the additional two plays included because I wanted to get directly to the movies’ source material. Despite the Disney cartoon spin on it, I found that version more similar to the original text.

The introduction provides a great background to the text including some overview of other Chinese legends. The beauty about Mulan is it isn’t supposed to be magical, she simply challenges gender roles by taking a “man’s role” through changing clothes.

[Pei-jean Lu · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ll admit that I only came to know the story of Mulan from the Disney movie which is terrible considering that I’m fairly well versed in Ancient Chinese legends or stories coming from a Chinese speaking background. This presents a few versions of the original legend starting with the original poem through to early attempts to adapt her story to the stage.
While it was good to get a little bit of the background to the story in the end it didn’t quite meet my expectations

[Ring Chime · Rating 3 out of 5]

The original poem was pretty limited, almost like a rhymed summary rather than a real story. The script for the film wasn't bad. Maybe the most valuable aspect of the work is actually the academic details on how human beings reuse and reinterpret and modify previous stories to match the concerns and feelings, the anxieties and wishes of the times.

[Ethan · Rating 4 out of 5]

It desperately needs an edit, with all the introductions being thrown in at the beginning and not paced out through like the tales themselves but otherwise a lot of fun and interesting.

[Sebastian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mulan is one of my favorite disney movies, and it was really fun to read some of the original material.

[Chloe · Rating 3 out of 5]

At the end of every academic year, you can count on student housing overflowing with unwanted garments, room decor, and books, thrown out in a general panic of "now how the hell do I pack and get all this stuff home?" Luckily for myself, I have scavenged many a free book from my dorm's free box during this annual spring cleaning, including this copy of various translated versions of the tale of Mulan. This book wouldn't have caught my eye if it weren't for the fact that it was free and for the taking, I probably wouldn't have picked it up.

Like many another millennial Chinese-American, I grew up intimately familiar with Disney's Mulan (and I distinctly remember playing majhong on the Mulan tie-in CD-rom game, back in the brief heyday of CD-rom games). That was the extent of my interest in the Mulan story until I came to read this book. To be perfectly honest, although the stories in this volume have interesting tidbits, they can't hold a candle to the Mulan of my beloved childhood memories - besides, I doubt the songs from the original plays could supersede the place of "Honor to Us All" or "Reflection." Nonetheless, I'm glad I now know now more about the origins of the Mulan legend and how it's subtly morphed throughout the years.

I found the introduction at the beginning to be much more interesting than the translations of the versions of Mulan themselves - my only quibble is that I wish the introductory text was spread throughout the book, instead of all clumped together at the beginning.

[Lulu]

The Ballad of Mulan was first transcribed in the Musical Records of Old and New by monk Zhijiang in the c. 557–589. The earliest extant text of the poem comes from an 11th- or 12th-century anthology known as the Music Bureau Collection, whose author, Guo Maoqian, explicitly mentions the Musical Records of Old and New as his source for the poem. http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/ps/chin...

Wei yuanfu The song of mulan 760s? https://mulanbook.com/pages/tang/song...


playwright Xu Wei (c. 1567-1589 ) dramatized the tale as "The Female Mulan" or, more fully, "The Heroine Mulan Goes to War in Her Father's Place" part of “Four Cries of a Gibbon” https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...

[Angélique (Angel) · Rating 3 out of 5]

While tedious at times, overall this was pretty interesting. Mulan is my favorite Disney leading lady, and so I loved experiencing these real, un-Disneyfied versions of her story. Seeing the changing perspectives on and adaptations of her story has allowed me to see the far ranging implications of her character and her legend. My only major complaint about this book is the introduction. I would have benefited more from individual introductions to each of the five works than from being bombarded with relevant information about each version plus the appendices in the beginning. But this is just a personal preference.

[Bread · Rating 4 out of 5]

this edition has notable versions of the Mulan tale, along w/ a good intro discussing its various revisions throughout history. mulans been portrayed as a filial daughter to an aging father or a patriotic defender of the nation - sometimes with a love interest, fighting bandits, knowing mystical daoist techniques, or even being just part of a much larger story! ofc, the theme of gender is also quite fascinating, sometimes played around in more conservative ways & not so. i prob enjoyed the oldest extant version & the 1939 screenplay the most

[Gaby Sandoval · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is great. It gives you a better insight of the different versions of Mulan.

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dry as only an academic book can be, but intriguing and informative despite that.