Getting To Know The Real Mulan: Preserving Her Story The Way It Was Meant To Be Told
Image by Author
The story of Mulan has gone through many changes over the years. Most people know of her through the animated 1998 Disney classic, or because of the more recent live-action remake of the same film.
These movies, while entertaining, get a whole lot wrong.
In an effort to make Mulan more recognizably “Chinese” to Western audiences, pop culture has remade nearly everything about the original Mulan’s story. Today we’re going to pull aside the veil of that pop culture makeover and take a look at the original Mulan––a badass young woman you may not recognize, but who’s absolutely worth getting to know.
A Ballad Turned Legend––How The Original Mulan Came To Be
The story of Mulan dates back to the 4th century A.D., and it was told by a people most of us have never heard of. Mulan’s people were the Xianbei, a semi-nomadic people living in what is today known as Northern China.
This was a turbulent time for the Xianbei. One of their clans, the Tuoba, had established themselves as rulers and founded the Wei Empire. In order to compete with the powerful kingdoms of the South, the Wei rulers began to establish major social and political reforms. The Xianbei’s nomadic way of life was being pushed aside in favor of new, Southern-influenced traditions.
Mulan’s story came about in the midst of this upheaval. The Ballad of Mulan is a short story that was originally told in the form of a song. It was a folk ballad, an oral tradition, and it was not written down until the 6th century A.D.
Ballads such as this one were important to the Xianbei. They were a way of transmitting values, stories, and beliefs, and they did not rely on books. This was practical for people accustomed to frequent travel (books are rather heavy to carry around, after all). And while Mulan’s story is fairly short, her character and journey contain layers upon layers of meaning that only a historian can fully appreciate.
Suffice it to say, Mulan wasn’t merely a heroine meant to inspire young men and women, nor was she a mere damsel in disguise. The real Mulan was a champion of her people’s threatened culture––and her story was a refutation of the Southern values that were challenging the Xianbei way of life.
Not So Fast, Huns––Painting A Portrait Of The Real Mulan
Modern depictions of Mulan present her as a Han noblewoman, the daughter of a respected imperial veteran and a frustrated girl yearning to break free of her society’s rigid gender roles. The villains of her story are the Huns––a fierce army of Mongolian warriors bent on conquest.
Historically speaking, that’s complete B.S.
First of all, Mulan would have looked more like the Hun than the Han. Her people, the Xianbei, were a proto-Mongolian tribe of horsemen. They called their leaders Khan, though by Mulan’s time they also referred to them as the Emperor or Son of Heaven (this was a Han Chinese derived title that Wei emperors adopted after interacting with the Southern kingdoms).
As a Xianbei woman living a more traditional lifestyle, she would have enjoyed relative gender equality and would have been entitled to her own money, property, and legal rights separate from her father’s. She would have been expected to choose her own husband, and children inherited their mother’s name.
Rather than doing chores and tending to livestock, a relatively wealthy young woman like Hua Mulan would have spent much of her time weaving. Most of the cloth she made would have been sold, and the profits belonged solely to her.
Physically, Mulan would have looked similar to modern Mongolian women. Westerners would see a resemblance between her and the women of the indigenous tribes of the American Northwest. Her people were considered tall by the standards of their time––their high-protein diet and active lifestyle was far healthier than that of the average Chinese peasant or even the typical, inactive nobles of the Han court.
She would have worn warm, thick clothing, including leather boots and leg warmers. Historical depictions of Xianbei women often include cloaks and fur hats. Mulan was likely of medium build with high cheekbones, strong legs, and high-set eyes. Beaded jewelry and hair adornments were popular among the Xianbei, and in warmer months the women wore embellished dresses and tunics over wool leggings.
When dressed for war, Mulan’s armor would have probably been made of hardened leather and iron. Since Xianbei armies primarily relied on cavalry, their armor and weapons needed to be lightweight and maneuverable. Recurve bows and iron-tipped arrows were useful for ranged fighting, while curved swords proved ideal for closer combat. When riding to and from camp, armor would likely have been fully or partially stored so as not to inhibit movement.
More About Family, Less About Honor––Mulan’s Homegrown Heroism (The OG Version)
We’ve established that Hua Mulan a) looked and lived like a complete badass and b) was a character meant to exemplify the threatened traditions of her people (and protest the encroachment of Han-inspired values from the South).
At this point, you can better appreciate the ballad that tells her story––and the importance of the traditions it represents.
Here’s a translation of the ballad (courtesy of Jack Yuan):
The sound of one sigh after another,
As Mulan weaves at the doorway.
No sound of the loom and shuttle,
Only that of the girl lamenting.
Ask her of whom she thinks,
Ask her for whom she longs.
"There is no one I think of,
There is no one I long for.
Last night I saw the army notice,
The Khan is calling a great draft –
A dozen volumes of battle rolls,
Each one with my father's name.
My father has no grown-up son,
And I have no elder brother.
I'm willing to buy a horse and saddle,
To go to battle in my father's place."
She buys a fine steed at the east market;
A saddle and blanket at the west market;
A bridle at the south market;
And a long whip at the north market.
She takes leave of her parents at dawn,
To camp beside the Yellow River at dusk.
No sound of her parents hailing their girl,
Just the rumbling waters of the Yellow River.
She leaves the Yellow River at dawn,
To reach the Black Mountains by dusk.
No sound of her parents hailing their girl,
Just the cries of barbarian cavalry in the Yan hills.
Ten thousand miles she rode in war,
Crossing passes and mountains as if on a wing.
On the northern air comes the sentry's gong,
Cold light shines on her coat of steel.
The general dead after a hundred battles,
The warriors return after ten years.
They return to see the Son of Heaven,
Who sits in the Hall of Brilliance.
The rolls of merit spin a dozen times,
Rewards in the hundreds and thousands.
The Khan asks her what she desires,
"I've no need for the post of a gentleman official,
I ask for the swiftest horse,
To carry me back to my hometown."
Her parents hearing their girl returns,
Out to the suburbs to welcome her back.
Elder sister hearing her sister returns,
Adjusts her rouge by the doorway.
Little brother hearing his sister returns,
Sharpens his knife for pigs and lamb.
"I open my east chamber door,
And sit on my west chamber bed.
I take off my battle cloak,
And put on my old-time clothes.
I adjust my wispy hair at the window sill,
And apply my bisque makeup by the mirror.
I step out to see my comrades-in-arms,
They are all surprised and astounded:
'We traveled twelve years together,
Yet didn't realize Mulan was a lady!'"
The buck bounds here and there,
Whilst the doe has narrow eyes.
But when the two rabbits run side by side,
How can you tell the female from the male?
There’s a lot to unpack in this poem. It would take a book to fully analyze it, but here are some of the big takeaways:
Image source: Bataya Photography
Mulan is her own narrator and speaks throughout the poem, which imbues her character with a sense of autonomy. No one but Mulan is controlling Mulan’s story.
Mulan immediately refutes the assumption that she is sighing and daydreaming about a lover. Her concerns are broader than that, which is a message modern feminists can appreciate.
Hua Mulan buys her own horse, armor, and riding gear, presumably by using her own money. She makes her own choice to go to war in her father’s place and travels the dangerous roads and passes by herself.
Having survived the war and achieved victory with the Khan’s army, Mulan is offered all sorts of money, imperial titles, and accolades…which she rejects in favor of returning to her traditional way of life. She’d rather go home to her family and their Xianbei way of life rather than adopt the lifestyle of the Han-influenced nobility of the imperial capital.
The poem ends by comparing male and female animals––the buck and doe are easy to tell apart, because one is active while the other is still and wary. But two hares can’t be told apart, as both are always running free. There is a depth to this metaphor. It only comes into focus when you consider the changing gender roles that threatened the Xianbei’s equitable way of life.
Reading this ballad, you can see that Mulan’s character is both dutiful and independent, brave and humble. She seems to have an attitude of “there’s a job to be done, so I’ll do it,” rather than some notion of proving herself or gaining honor. She simply loves her father and the rest of her family, so she does what she must in order to protect them.
Simple motivations are often the most profound. And when Mulan rejects the life of a noble in favor of her traditional life back at home, she is sending a powerful message to the Khan and his court. It’s a subtle challenge that respects the Khan’s status as a ruler, but at the same time challenges the Southern influence seeping into his court.
A more accurate depiction of Mulan as she would have looked in traditional, lightweight leather armor.
In adopting the traditions of the Han court, the Wei Empire was steadily eroding the rights of women. Thanks to the eventual defeat of the Wei by the Han Empire, they would become little more than chattel. The nomadic way of life would be pushed into near-extinction as imperial power was consolidated. Agriculture would take over most of the Xianbei’s traditional land, and most of the profits from livestock and crops would inevitably end up in Imperial coffers.
The Xianbei clans that had fought to bring the Wei to power and maintain it would increasingly be ignored in favor of other groups. The story of Mulan was both a protest and an act of preservation. It championed the Xianbei way of life while simultaneously preserving the tribe’s cultural values for future generations. These were values like loyalty, simplicity, love, work ethic, freedom, and steadfastness. Mulan represented the free-running hare, identical in strength and worth to her male counterparts. She did not want to be a wary doe or a posturing stag: both roles were an affront to her inherent nature and, by extension, the nature of her people.
Preserving the original version of Mulan’s story is our way of honoring those values. It’s also our way of honoring the Xianbei’s unique culture, and the story of who they were and what they cared about. Without knowing the authentic story, we risk losing it forever.
Besides, don’t we deserve a badass, authentically Xianbei version of Mulan? I’m looking at you, Disney.
This article was made possible by the generous support of our partners. A huge thank you to Lalit and Shubha Vadlamani for empowering us so we can empower women!
The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in this article belong solely to the author, and do not necessarily reflect the position of The Fem Word organization. Any content provided by the author are based on their opinions and are not intended to malign any religion, ethnic group, club, organization, company, individual or anyone or anything.