East Meets West｜Ye Weizhang: How did Mulan's Story Spread and Influence the World?

"A sigh leaves and a sigh follows, sitting at her loom Mulan weaves……"

"Mulan took his father's place in the army", the story from The Mulan Ballad, is well known to everyone. There are many heroines in Chinese history, but why is the story of Mulan so popular? What role has Mulan culture played in promoting cultural exchanges between East and West? Recently, Ye Weizhang, the inheritor of the national intangible cultural heritage of the Mulan legend, accepted an exclusive interview with East Meets West of China News Service.

CNS: The story that "Mulan took his father's place in the army" is famous both at home and abroad. Where did this heroine's image first come from, and did "Hua Mulan" really exist?

Ye Weizhang: Hua Mulan is one of the legendary heroines of ancient China, whose family name, hometown, life, and deeds are not all recorded in the history books. There is no way to tell when the legend of Mulan began, and her life has been a mystery for thousands of years.

According to extant ancient Chinese literature and local county records, it is now generally accepted that the image of Mulan originated from a narrative poem called The Mulan Ballad (Mulan Shi) during the Northern and Southern Dynasties. The ballad was first recorded in The Collection of Ancient and Contemporary Music, written by Shi Zhijiang in the Northern and Southern Dynasties, and was later included in The Collection of Yuefu Poems by Guo Maoqian in the Song Dynasty. Guo Maoqian cited the account in The Collection of Ancient and Contemporary Music as saying, "Mulan is unknown." It is evident that the compilers were unclear about Mulan's origins at that time. In the Tang Dynasty, Li Rong's Mulan in The Army refers to Mulan as an 'ancient person', which shows that she was born long ago.

The Mulan Ballad is included in The Collection of Yuefu Poems compiled by Guo Maoqian in the Song Dynasty. Photo by Zhang Qin.

I personally agree with the famous historian Mr Fan Wenlan's view that "there may have been a daughter who once took her old father’s place in the army, and the people sang the praises of this heroic daughter, gradually expanding it into a large piece and modifying it into a fine work. This makes it unnecessary to find out whether Mulan really existed or not.”

CNS: How has the image of Mulan evolved over the centuries? As a cultural phenomenon, what kind of cultural connotations and national spirit does it carry?

Ye Weizhang: The Mulan Ballad, which is less than 400 words long, tells the legendary story of Mulan, who disguised herself as a man and took her father's place in the army. In fact, since the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the adaptation and reshaping of Mulan's image have never ceased. Literary scholars over the generations have processed, extended, and filled up the story, enriching the artistic image of this heroine.

As a source, The Mulan Ballad portrays Mulan as a heroic woman who is loyal and filial, brave and courageous, and who does not crave fame and fortune. The act of 'taking her father's place in the army made 'filial piety' the core value of Mulan's image at the time. In the Tang Dynasty, Du Mu, Bai Juyi, and Wei Yuanfu wrote poems about Mulan. Wei Yuanfu's Mulan Song added elements of Tang Dynasty frontier fortress poetry to emphasise the image as a 'moral benchmark': 'long-admired loyalty and filial piety shall never be extinguished'.

The Mulan Ballad does not mention Mulan's family name throughout. The Ming dynasty writer and dramatist Xu Wei wrote a poetic drama called Four-Act Play - Female Mulan Joins the Army for Her Father, which gives Mulan the surname "Hua" and adds to the story that Mulan trained in martial arts since childhood, captured the leader of the bandits in the army, and was married after returning to her hometown.

In the Qing Dynasty, the basic plot structure of Female Mulan Takes Her Father's Place in the Army was adopted and enriched in The Legend of the Daughter of Filial Piety and The Legend of Heroic Mulan, laying the foundations for the creation of future Mulan operas.

From the Beijing opera Mulan Joins the Army to the Henan opera Hua Mulan, to the present-day film and television dramas with the story of Mulan as the background, the core plot that "a woman, disguised as a man, takes her father's place in the army, fights for years, and refuses to accept her official position" has given "Hua Mulan" different characteristics and cultural connotations in different times. She is either a national heroine who inspires a large number of young people to join the army and the revolution, or a representative of outstanding women, but the core value of loyalty and filial piety remains unchanged.

Young actors were performing the Henan opera "Hua Mulan". Photo by Qiu Yong

The Confucian values of filial piety, loyalty, courage, and temperance are fully reflected in Mulan.

Let's start with filial piety, which has been valued in China since ancient times. In The Mulan Ballad, there is only one reason why Mulan joined the army, and that was to "take her father's place" - she did not want her elderly father to go to war. "This is a manifestation of filial piety. Then there is loyalty, and Confucianism advocates loyalty and patriotism. Mulan fought on the battlefield, defending the frontier and practising loyalty in her military service for over ten years. Courage is worth mentioning, as a woman disguised as a man and taking her father's place in the army required courage and bravery. Her bravery and fortitude are depicted in "To join the war, she goes for miles and miles, and like flying crosses passes and hills." The temperance is reflected in Mulan's refusal to be rewarded and return home to serve her parents.

What is even more remarkable is the awakening of feminist consciousness in the story of Mulan. The recognition of female identity has inspired and motivated women of all times, whether it is "When side by side two rabbits go, Who can tell the buck from the doe?" in The Mulan Ballad or "Who says a woman is inferior to a man?" in the Henan opera Hua Mulan.

Porcelain works of Mulan riding horses. Photo by Zhang Qin

CNS: From Disney's animation to the live-action remake of Mulan, Mulan, a symbolic figure of traditional Chinese culture, has gained many overseas fans. During your research of Mulan culture and collection of relevant things, what stories or collections have witnessed the spread of Mulan culture overseas?

Ye Weizhang: Some people think that Disney's production of Mulan was a coincidence, but it was not. According to my research, the spread of Mulan culture in the United States can be traced back to at least the Qing Dynasty. In 1881, W.A.P. Martin, an American missionary who was the chief instructor at the School of Combined Learning in Peking, translated The Mulan Ballad into an English poem, entitled Mulan, the Maiden Chief, and published it in the United States. The many reprints since then have played an important role in the spread of Mulan culture in the United States. In 1921, while studying at Harvard University, Hong Shen, Zhang Pengchun, and other pioneers of Chinese drama wrote and performed the English play Mulan Joins the Army, which was the first time that the image of Mulan appeared on the American stage.

The story of Mulan spread even earlier in Japan. The collections I have gathered over the past 30 years show that Mulan culture has been widely spread and influential in Japan. The earliest of these was The Mulan Ballad, which was included in the block-printed The Grand View of Ancient Poetry, published in the 12th year of Bunsei (1829). The book not only records the full text of The Mulan Ballad, but also provides explanatory notes to each line.

The Mulan Ballad included in the 1829 Japanese publication The Grand View of Ancient Poetry. Photo by Zhang Qin

In 1918, the famous modern Japanese painter Hashimoto Kansetsu painted Mulan, depicting Hua Mulan resting in the forest on her return to her hometown. 2012 saw the musical and dance drama Mulan being staged in Japan and China respectively, with the collaboration of the two countries.

The painting Mulan by the famous modern Japanese painter Hashimoto Kansetsu. Credit: the interviewee

Mulan culture has also spread to countries such as France, the UK, and the Netherlands. In 1892, Chen Jitong, a diplomat of the late Qing Dynasty, published a French version of My Country, in which the second chapter tells the story of Mulan, calling her "the Chinese Joan of Arc"; in 1899, William Stanton, an Englishman, translated and included The Mulan Ballad in his book Chinese Opera; the Dutch version of The Mulan Ballad was published in 1939.

My Country written by Chen Jitong, a diplomat of the late Qing Dynasty, tells the story of Mulan. Photo by Zhang Qin

CNS: What role did Mulan culture play in promoting East-West exchanges? What are the implications for Chinese culture going global?

Ye Weizhang: The story of Mulan has been spread abroad, preserving the traditional Chinese cultural heritage while incorporating the world's understanding of the spirit of Mulan, which embodies the core ideas of heroism, bravery, patriotism, war and peace that are the eternal themes of humanity, and have received worldwide attention and love.

The story of Mulan has gone beyond the borders of China, promoting the fusion of Eastern and Western cultural ideas and values. Although there are differences between the East and West in the portrayal of Mulan and the exploration of values, the overseas spread of the Mulan story has given the world a window to explore Chinese culture.

Students posed as "Mulan" during the "Year of the Chinese Language" in Russia. Photo by Song Fulai

In June 2008, the legend of Mulan was included in the second batch of the national intangible cultural heritage list. As a common cultural heritage of humanity, we are responsible for protecting the core cultural elements and promoting and disseminating them through various cultural and artistic images and works.

I have been concerned about Mulan culture since the 1980s and have now collected over 5,000 Mulan-related collections. As the inheritor of the national intangible cultural heritage of the Mulan legend, it is my priority to make good use of the story and spiritual connotation of the "Mulan Legend" and to explore and promote it. To this end, I founded the Mulan Culture Museum and the Mulan Legend Museum to let more people know about and understand the Mulan culture.

Wooden sculpture of the Mulan image. Photo by Zhang Qin

In my opinion, an excellent traditional culture with a distinctive theme and strong national integration can resonate with people worldwide. Nowadays, Mulan is not only the collective memory of the country and the nation, but has also become a typical Chinese cultural symbol. Exploring the value of Mulan culture in the new era and letting it innovate and continue should be the direction of our future endeavours.

"The mountain existed before Mulan,

but it was given the name Mulan.

Their names are now well-known,

and through aeons compete the mountain and Mulan."

Ye Weizhang, the representative inheritor of the fifth batch of national intangible cultural heritage projects, is dedicated to the inheritance, research, and collection of Mulan culture, collecting and collating a total of more than 20 categories of ancient books, paintings, sculptures, porcelain, wood carvings, librettos, scripts, and artworks related to the Mulan legend, greatly enriching and expanding the connotation of the Mulan legend. The Mulan Culture Museum he founded has made a vital contribution to the promotion of the spirit of Mulan and the inheritance and promotion of traditional Chinese cultural heritage.