The Ode of Heroine: Mulan
The Ode of Heroine: Mulan
Many ladies have ever imaged a different life they would have if they were men. Some of them would like to do some real men’s things, challenging the task which they impossibly accomplished as a lady. But there is a young maiden called Mulan whose surname is unknown in the history of Ancient China, who disguised herself as a man to attend fight in an army replacing for her father. Frankly, Mulan was a brave maiden and her romantic life was written in a ballad named as The ballad of Mulan which came down to us today.
This type of literature called Yuefu which means a Chinese poem composed in a folk song style. Additionally, this term originally literally meant “Music Bureau”, a reference to the imperial Chinese governmental organization originally charged with collecting or writing the lyrics (web). The ballad of Mulan is one of the most famous ballad in the Yuefu Ballads which compiled by the Guo Maoqian in the 12th century. It describes a story, about a maiden Mulan disguised herself as a man to attend fight, occurred in the Northern Dynasties when barbarous Tujie invaded on the borders of Mulan’s homeland. From this story, we grasped that Mulan is a maiden who possesses filial devotion, patriotic heart, and indifference of fame and fortune and her story has a deep effect on Chinese women even today. Moreover, she also owns the spirit of revolution and resistance and gives us a long lasting figure of a patriotic and brave Chinese woman. However, part of common people and scholars at that time did not agree with her actions. Because she did not comply with the conventional feminine code of conduct and challenge authority of feudal ideology. Women did not have the right to behave as a man at that time when all thought women are inferior to men.
After reading the entire poem, the figure of Mulan was already rooted deeply in my mind. I found three aspects of Chinese traditional virtues that were appeared on this maiden. First of all,
Many ladies have ever imaged a different life they would have if they were men. Some of them would like to do some real men’s things, challenging the task which they impossibly accomplished as a lady. But there is a young maiden called Mulan whose surname is unknown in the history of Ancient China, who disguised herself as a man to attend fight in an army replacing for her father. Frankly, Mulan was a brave maiden and her romantic life was written in a ballad named as The ballad of Mulan which came down to us today.
This type of literature called Yuefu which means a Chinese poem composed in a folk song style. Additionally, this term originally literally meant “Music Bureau”, a reference to the imperial Chinese governmental organization originally charged with collecting or writing the lyrics (web). The ballad of Mulan is one of the most famous ballad in the Yuefu Ballads which compiled by the Guo Maoqian in the 12th century. It describes a story, about a maiden Mulan disguised herself as a man to attend fight, occurred in the Northern Dynasties when barbarous Tujie invaded on the borders of Mulan’s homeland. From this story, we grasped that Mulan is a maiden who possesses filial devotion, patriotic heart, and indifference of fame and fortune and her story has a deep effect on Chinese women even today. Moreover, she also owns the spirit of revolution and resistance and gives us a long lasting figure of a patriotic and brave Chinese woman. However, part of common people and scholars at that time did not agree with her actions. Because she did not comply with the conventional feminine code of conduct and challenge authority of feudal ideology. Women did not have the right to behave as a man at that time when all thought women are inferior to men.
After reading the entire poem, the figure of Mulan was already rooted deeply in my mind. I found three aspects of Chinese traditional virtues that were appeared on this maiden. First of all,