10. The Fierce and Filial Girl from Northern Wei
This circa 1850 novel from Zhang Shaoxian focuses on Mulan’s chastity and virtue. Her traits of compassion, extending even to those she slew in battle, and filial devotion are demonstrated as the source of her courage. Mulan is described as 17 when the novel begins. She is among the most beautiful women in China, and engaged to a man exempt from the draft. Her father, Hua Hu, was not exempt, and when drafted and too ill to serve, allows Mulan to enter the army in disguise Mulan took the name, Hua Hu. Previous alterations in the Mulan legend are accounted for in the novel, with editorial license allowing for further alteration. Among the enemies in several battles are sorcerers and sorceresses, bandits and barbarians, and evil leaders and rivals.
Throughout the book, Mulan follows the cardinal virtues expected of Chinese women of the time. These were to honor officials and sovereigns, fathers and sons, and husbands and wives. The depiction of Mulan in the novel is one of never straying from these virtues. They were thus the source of her courage, her military prowess, and success and fame, despite numerous injuries and indignities at the hands of her enemies and jealous rivals. At the end of the novel, Mulan marries, and eventually gives birth to a son who rose to be Prime Minister of China. Many of the later retellings of Mulan’s legend draw on parts of this novel for their story, including later films and television presentations.