Ballad Of Mulan Essay
The Ballad of Mulan
The original story behind the iconic Disney movie Mulan dates back to the 5th or 6th century C.E. Tzu-Yeh is possibly the woman behind The Ballad of Mulan (Ode to Mulan)- she tells the story of Mulan, who goes to war dressed as a man in place of her elderly father. She fought in the war against other tribes for 12 years, her gender unbeknownst to her comrades. Mulan faired so well in the was that the emperor offered to give her a higher rank. She refused, saying “Mulan has no use for a minister’s post. I wish to ride a swift mount to take me back to my home” ( Line 40). On returning home, her comrades were “amazed and perplexed” (Line 56) to find Mulan to really be a woman. The ballad was written in a time where women in China had little to no rights- Mulan’s actions would be punishable by death. In Chinese history, this was a time that the kingdom was divided into Northern and Southern Dynasties and ruled by different groups (Hsieh and …show more content…
Although the Northern Dynasties ruled most of the population, they were considered not to represent mainstream culture, being under the influence of foreign barbarians. The Southern Dynasties maintained stronger, more continuous cultural ties to the Han Dynasty (Owen, 1996). However, Buddhist and Confucian scholarship and their legacy in religious art were still influential in both areas. Confucianism was a major player in how men and women in China were supposed to live Popular in both the north and south of China was Yueh-Fu, ballad-like folk poetry narrated in the third person and based on folksong lyrics that originated during the late Han Dynasty (Nienhauser, 1985; Owen, 1996). By the sixth century, some of the songs seem to have been sung by women, and unlike ‘‘classic’’ literature, Yueh-Fu used colloquial language and displayed local
The original story behind the iconic Disney movie Mulan dates back to the 5th or 6th century C.E. Tzu-Yeh is possibly the woman behind The Ballad of Mulan (Ode to Mulan)- she tells the story of Mulan, who goes to war dressed as a man in place of her elderly father. She fought in the war against other tribes for 12 years, her gender unbeknownst to her comrades. Mulan faired so well in the was that the emperor offered to give her a higher rank. She refused, saying “Mulan has no use for a minister’s post. I wish to ride a swift mount to take me back to my home” ( Line 40). On returning home, her comrades were “amazed and perplexed” (Line 56) to find Mulan to really be a woman. The ballad was written in a time where women in China had little to no rights- Mulan’s actions would be punishable by death. In Chinese history, this was a time that the kingdom was divided into Northern and Southern Dynasties and ruled by different groups (Hsieh and …show more content…
Although the Northern Dynasties ruled most of the population, they were considered not to represent mainstream culture, being under the influence of foreign barbarians. The Southern Dynasties maintained stronger, more continuous cultural ties to the Han Dynasty (Owen, 1996). However, Buddhist and Confucian scholarship and their legacy in religious art were still influential in both areas. Confucianism was a major player in how men and women in China were supposed to live Popular in both the north and south of China was Yueh-Fu, ballad-like folk poetry narrated in the third person and based on folksong lyrics that originated during the late Han Dynasty (Nienhauser, 1985; Owen, 1996). By the sixth century, some of the songs seem to have been sung by women, and unlike ‘‘classic’’ literature, Yueh-Fu used colloquial language and displayed local