Hua Mulan

Hua Mulan is a legendary figure from ancient China who was originally described in a Chinese poem known as the Ballad of Mulan (木蘭辭). In the poem, Hua Mulan takes her aged father's place in the army. 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 uncertain. The earliest accounts of the legend state that she lived during the Northern Wei dynasty (386–534).

The Hua Mulan crater on Venus is named after her.

History
The Ballad of Mulan was first transcribed in the Musical Records of Old and New ( s 古今乐录, t 古今樂錄) in the 6th century, the century before the founding of the Tang Dynasty. The original work no longer exists, and the original text of this poem comes from another work known as the Music Bureau Collection ( s 乐府诗, t 樂府詩), an anthology of lyrics, songs, and poems, compiled by Guo Maoqian during the 11th or 12th century. The author explicitly mentions the Musical Records of Old and New as his source for the poem.

The poem is a ballad, meaning that the lines do not necessarily have equal numbers of syllables. The poem consists of 31 couplets, and is mostly composed of five-character phrases, with a few extending to seven or nine.

The story was expanded into a novel during the late Ming Dynasty (1368–1644). Over time, the story of Hua Mulan rose in popularity as a folk tale among the Chinese people on the same level as the Butterfly Lovers. It is one of the first poems in Chinese history to support the notion of gender equality.

Name
In Chinese, mùlán ( s 木兰, t 木蘭, lit. "wood-orchid") refers to the magnolia. The heroine of the poem is given different family names in different versions of her story. According to History of the Ming, her family name is Zhu (朱）, while the History of the Qing say it is Wei (魏). The family name 花 (Huā, lit. "flower") has become the most popular in recent years in part because of its more poetic meaning.

Plot
The poem starts with Mulan worried, as her father has been called to serve in the army. She decides to take his place and bids farewell to her parents. After ten years of fighting, the army returns and the warriors are rewarded. Mulan turns down an official post, and asks only for a swift camel to carry her home. She is greeted with joy by her family. Mulan dons her old clothes and meets her comrades, who are shocked that in their years travelling together, they did not realize that she was a woman.

Adaptations
The story of Hua Mulan has inspired a number of screen and stage adaptations, even without taking into account the many pre-modern Chinese plays and operas about the subject. These modern adaptations include:
 * Mulan Joins the Army (1917 play) starring Mei Lanfang
 * Hua Mulan Joins the Army (1927 film) – a Chinese silent film released by the Tianyi Film Company and directed by Li Pingqian.
 * Mulan Joins the Army (1928 film) – Mingxing Film Company production, directed by Hou Yao. The film was unsuccessful, in part due to the Tianyi film that was released the previous year.
 * Mulan Joins the Army (1939 film) – popular Chinese film made during the war, directed by Bu Wancang.
 * Lady General Hua Mulan (1964 film) – Hong Kong opera film.
 * Saga of Mulan (1994 film) - Film adaptation of the Chinese opera based on the legend.
 * A Tough Side of a Lady (1998 film) – Hong Kong TVB drama series of Mulan starring Mariane Chan as Hua Mu Lan.
 * Mulan (1998 film) – Disney animated feature based on the legend of Mulan, and the basis of many derivative works.
 * Mulan II (2004 film) – Sequel to Disney's Mulan (1998 film).
 * Hua Mu Lan (1999 series) – Taiwan CTV period drama serial starring Anita Yuen as Hua Mu Lan.
 * Mulan (2009 film) – Live action film about the Chinese Legend.
 * Maxine Hong Kingston re-visited Mulan's tale in her 1975 text, The Woman Warrior. Kingston's version popularized the story in the West and led to an adaptation by Disney, but contained many arbitrary changes that have been widely criticized by other Asian-American scholars, such as Frank Chin.
 * Cameron Dokey created 'Wild Orchid' in 2009, a retelling of the Ballad of Mulan as part of the Once Upon A Time series of novels published by Simon Pulse, an imprint of Simon & Schuster.
 * The Legend of Mu Lan: A Heroine of Ancient China was the first English language picture book featuring the character Mulan published in the United States in 1992 by Victory Press.
 * New Tang Dynasty TV's 2006 Chinese Spectacular featured a stage performance of the story of Mulan.
 * Jamie Chung portrays Mulan in the second and third season of the U.S. TV series Once Upon a Time. On the show, Mulan is portrayed as bisexual.
 * In the fantasy/alternate history novel Throne of Jade, China's aerial corps is described as being composed of all female captains and their dragons due to the precedent set by the legendary woman warrior.
 * In the comic, Deadpool Killustrated, Hua Mulan, along with Natty Bumppo, and Beowulf are brought together by Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson (using H.G. Wells' time machine) to stop Deadpool from killing all beloved literary characters and destroying the literary universe.