The Legend of Mulan

The scenes in the Ballad of Mulan span the historical period from the Two Jin dynasties to the early Tang, and include many fictional elements and vague estimates common in ancient literature, making it difficult to use as a blueprint. The versions of the story that began circulating in the Tang dynasty contain so many Han Chinese elements that they verge on the ridiculous (for example, Mulan refuses to enter the palace as a concubine and kills herself... This perfectly embodies the ancient Confucian men's wish-fulfillment fantasies).

The heroine of this story is assumed to have been born around 410 CE and to be Xianbei. Her surname certainly isn't Hua, since none of the ninety-nine Xianbei surnames seem to have been Hua, either before or after they were sinicized. Early Xianbei women were strong and forthright. They rode horses, wielded blades, and shot arrows; at home, they handled household affairs and raised children. They could manage both public and domestic life, compete fiercely, make money, and advance their careers just as well as men. If they liked someone, they would actively pursue him (and might just as directly leave someone they disliked). This was a world entirely different from that of later Confucian Han Chinese, who raised men to be passive shut-ins and oppressed women until they were as helpless as disabled animals.

The institutions of the early Northern Wei were very different from those after sinicization. Since there are no historical sources for many things, a great many details in this story are conjecture and invention.

Also, if a woman could disguise herself as a man and spend ten years in the army without anyone noticing, that would be downright supernatural.

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