Hua Mulan

Hua Mulan (Chinese: 花木蘭) is a legendary woman warrior from the Southern and Northern Dynasties (420–589) of China who was originally described in a ballad known as the Ballad of Mulan (Chinese: 木蘭辭). In the ballad, Hua Mulan takes her aged father's place in the army. She was known for practicing martial arts such as Kung Fu and for being skilled with the sword. She fought for twelve years and gained high merit, but she refused any reward and retired to her hometown instead.

The historical setting of Hua Mulan is in the Han Dynasty. Over a thousand years later, Xu Wei's play from the Ming places her in the Northern Wei (386–536), whereas the Qing dynasty Sui Tang Romance has her active around the founding of the Tang c. 620. In 621, the founder of the Tang dynasty was victorious over Wang Shichong and Dou Jiande, the latter of which was the father of Xianniang, another female warrior who became Mulan's laotong in the Sui Tang Romance.

The Hua Mulan crater on Venus is named after her.

Hua Mulan (disambiguation)

Hua Mulan is a legendary Chinese heroine.

Hua Mulan may also refer to:

See also

Lady General Hua Mu-lan

Lady General Hua Mu-lan is a 1964 Hong Kong Huangmei opera musical film, directed by Yueh Feng, depicting the story of Hua Mulan.

Synopsis

Barbarian hordes had invaded and the border towns were overrun. The call went out for able-bodied men to join the army. Hua Mulan returned home from her hunting to find that her frail father had been summoned. Her brother was too young to enlist so she volunteered to take her father's place but her parents rejected the idea. Determined to convince her father, she conspired with her cousin and elder sister. Dressed as a man, she sparred with her father and defeated him. Both astonished and impressed, he gave her his blessings to join the army.

With her cousin accompanying her, she joined the ranks of army recruits and managed to impress the General in the recruits martial trials. In the 12 years of fighting, she rose through the ranks and attained the status of general. Through this period, she became fast friends with the group of recruits she was with and General Li. The war eventually drew to a close with an ambush and capture of the barbarian king. The Commanding General of the army threw a celebratory feast, after which, he drew Mulan aside to discuss a matter with her. He was especially impressed with her abilities and character and wished to bethroth his daughter to Mulan. Unable to reveal the truth about her identity and reluctant to refuse him outright for fear of offending him, Mulan dodged the issue by pretending to be feeling weak from her wound received in the last battle.