It is often argued that interpreting a tale’s adaptation requires an analysis of “not only of the tale itself, but also of the motives and values of those responsible for its metamorphosis”, which certainly holds true for Chinese folk narratives. In our global era, the effects of nationalism have had a particular impact on folk heroes such as Mulan, who serve as mouthpieces for the political agendas contemporary creators wish to emphasise. The globalised stage onto which China emerges in this new era hence manifests in the nationalistic motivations that shape the folk stories being told today, particularly in Jingle Ma’s 2009 movie adaptation of the Mulan legend, Hua Mulan.
Disney’s 1998 movie Mulan, in which her figure was appropriated to assert Western supremacy, sparked many heated debates in Sinophone spheres that called for the “recla[mation of] the Chineseness of Mulan”. Indeed, Mulan “has been much emulated by the Chinese as a national heroine for centuries”, since she represents idealised Confucian traits such as filial piety and fealty. However, when one traces the origins of her narrative, it becomes clear that its earliest known form, the Poem of Mulan, “[wa]s probably a legend derived from the tribal life of a northern people”, and that the Chinese in fact appropriated her legend for the purpose of promoting Han nationalism. Therefore, it is critical that we examine the impact of nationalism on her narrative, particularly how Mulan has been remoulded to promote the Han ethnic group and denigrate minority groups instead.
The influence of northern folk songs on the Poem of Mulan is clearest in the conflation of the terms “Khan”, a non-Chinese title, and “Son of Heaven”, a distinctly Chinese title used to refer to an emperor; it thus cannot be denied that the Mulan narrative does have strong ties to the oral traditions of northern nomadic tribes. Viewing the Poem of Mulan through this lens, the “masculine spirit” in Mulan’s portrayal then unmistakably reflects northern depictions of women warriors as both skilled archers and horse riders. Thus, when Mulan was appropriated to become a Chinese heroine, it was necessary for her transgression of the gendered boundary between the masculine exterior and the feminine interior to be incorporated into Confucian ideals in order to make her seem more Chinese, as well as balance her violation of gendered norms for a male-dominated audience. As such, her motivation for going to war in her father’s place in Hua Mulan is repeatedly stressed to be filial piety, though it is not explicitly mentioned in the Poem of Mulan. This framing transforms her appropriation of masculine power into “an extension of her filial duties in the domestic space” and thus of the Confucian gendered order, “depriv[ing it] of its subversive potential” in a Chinese narrative.
Similarly, the subsumption of Mulan’s non-Han identity into that of a Han warrior who fights for the entire nation of China on behalf of Han rulers is implicit in the co-optation of Mulan as a national heroine. As a result, the unspecified enemy Mulan fights in the Poem of Mulan becomes—in later centuries—a variety of foreign enemies that have fought against Chinese empires. Though there was no such foe threatening a physical takeover of China during the production of Hua Mulan, it is still ultimately a representation of nationalistic motivations, according to director Ma, albeit one in response to Disney’s westernisation of Mulan. This goal is thus chiefly reflected in the casting of Han actors in the roles of the Xianbei royalty, which emphasises their historical Sinicisation and appropriates them for Han nationalism. Furthermore, Ma’s Mulan is much more explicitly loyal to China than pre-twentieth century versions, which have her choose her father or death over the empire; Hua Mulan ends with Mulan sacrificing her love for the good of the empire, a decision that cannot fulfil its nationalistic rhetoric had Mulan been fighting for noticeably alien rulers.
Such tensions against what China views as “foreign threats” also manifest in Ma’s racist depiction of the Rouran Khaganate, which incorporates many stereotypical tropes about Central Asians. One such ethnic group is the Uyghurs in Xinjiang, against whom widespread discrimination has been perpetuated for nearly a century now, and who began protesting more actively in the 1990s for Xinjiang to reclaim independence and secede from China. In response, the Chinese government ordered the first of many brutal crackdowns, some of which were still being carried out while Hua Mulan was in production; the depiction of the Rouran as sadistic and barbaric, wearing animal furs in comparison to civilised Han attire, thus feeds into that discrimination, further positioning the Chinese population against the Uyghurs. Moreover, Hua Mulan portrays the Rouran as rapacious instigators of war who force the Han through years of battle and death, which both serves to condemn the Uyghurs for their part in the 1990s riots in Xinjiang and the hundreds of resultant deaths, as well as promote Ma’s anti-war message.
The aftermath of the First World War resulted in a radical transformation of the global perception of war—most countries, upon seeing the devastation chemical weapons wrought upon civilians and soldiers alike, agreed that despite its historical glorification, “war should be abandoned from their affairs”. Such anti-war sentiments do not contradict Chinese nationalism; in fact, “Chinese citizens with a stronger sense of national pride report stronger anti-war sentiments than other citizens”, perhaps due to the government’s “rhetorical emphasis on peace and stability” in their framing of foreign policies. This analysis dovetails well with Ma’s portrayal of war: the first thing Mulan’s father says is to condemn the institution of war, claiming that despite popular belief, “there are no heroes on the battlefield, only dead men and crazy ones”, thus pointing to the utter disillusionment with war in modern Chinese society.
The narrative also chooses to centre the brutality of war whenever possible—Mulan’s tactical error directly results in multiple deaths, which causes her to fall into a depressed state; later, when her troop is besieged, Mulan is forced to watch her childhood friend Xiaohu and even more soldiers die, and eventually voices her wish for a future in which families of soldiers no longer receive their bloodied name tags, a poignant image that speaks to the way war lays waste to an entire country. Furthermore, there is a consistent framing of war (for the Chinese) as a purely defensive action throughout the film: the herald calls the men of Mulan’s village to war “for [their] defense [against the Rouran]”, and Mulan’s unacknowledged sacrifice of her love—her most heroic action—is for the purpose of maintaining peace in the country. Since such anti-war sentiments are not present in the Poem of Mulan, which merely treats war as a fact of life, it is indisputable that the World Wars have been crucial in shaping the portrayal of war within Mulan’s narrative.
Given that Mulan’s story is so deeply grounded in state politics, it is perhaps unavoidable that each iteration of her narrative should include such multifarious political rhetoric. It is likewise clear that the apparent defining characteristics of the modern era are a nationalistic attitude that idealises Chinese unification (yet excludes minority ethnic groups), and a disillusionment with the gratuitous brutality of war.
Image by Tana on Unsplash