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. In the poem, Hua Mulan takes her aged father's place in the army. Shefought for 12 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 statethat she lived during the Northern Wei  dynasty (386–534).

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History
The Ballad of Mulan was first transcribed in the Musical Records of Old andNew  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 BureauCollection, 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 thepoem. The poem is a ballad, meaning that the lines do not necessarily have equal numbers of syllables. The poem is mostly composed of five-character phrases, with just 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 asthe Butterfly Lovers. It is one of the first poems in Chinese history to support the notion of gender equality.
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Name
In Chinese, mùlán  refers tothe 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, while the History of the Qing say it is Wei. Thefamily name (Huā) has become the most popular in recent years in part because of its more poetic meaning.

Hua Mulan
Long ago, in the Wei, Sui or Tang, depending on who tells it, there was an...