Mulan: Five Versions of a Classic Chinese Legend, with Related Texts ed. by Shiamin Kwa and Wilt L. Idema

Abstract

Reviewed by: Mulan: Five Versions of a Classic Chinese Legend, with Related Texts ed. by Shiamin Kwa and Wilt L. Idema Yining Lin MULAN: FIVE VERSIONS OF A CLASSIC CHINESE LEGEND, WITH RELATED TEXTS. Edited and Translated, with an Introduction, by Shiamin Kwa and Wilt L. Idema. Indianapolis/Cambridge: Hackett Publishing Company, Inc., 2010. 136 pp. 6 black and white photos. $36.25. The legend of Mulan, the brave and loyal girl who takes her ailing father's place in the army to fight against foreign invaders, remains one of the most popular Chinese stories. In an installment of a larger series of translations, Shiamin Kwa and Wilt L. Idema trace Mulan's story from her first appearance in two 12th century poems to the twentieth century through translations of poems and scripts along with summaries of additional plays and novels. The translations and summaries included in this book gives the reader a comprehensive idea of how Mulan, as character and prominent figure, reflected the political agendas of the time. [End Page 338] Included in this anthology are translations of "The Poem of Mulan" by an anonymous author and "Song of Mulan" by Tang Dynasty official Wei Yangfu. Both poems were a part of a 12th century anthology entitled Collected Works of the Music Bureau (Yuefu shiji) compiled by Guo Maoqian. The book also includes two translated plays The Female Mulan Joins the Army in Place of Her Father by Xu Wei in the 16th century and the anonymously authored Mu Lan Joins the Army (1903). The book's final text is a translation of a 1939 film version of Mulan's story called Mulan Joins the Army written by Ouyang Yuqian, one of the original huaju (spoken drama) playwrights and actors. While each version has a different emphasis depending on the time it was written, Kwa points out that the major plot points remain the same: Mulan's father is called up to fight, but he is elderly, so she replaces him by disguising herself as a man. She carries out this disguise for over a decade, rising in the ranks, which captures the attention of the Emperor, who rewards her with a high-ranking position in government. She refuses the position, telling the Emperor that she wishes to return home to her family. She returns home with accolades and instantly resumes her position as a filial and chaste daughter. In the introduction, Kwa explores the changing meanings behind each version of the story. In her discussion of the poems, Kwa highlights the authors' use of equipment, such as the armor, the horse, and weapons, as a way to act out the putting on of gender through clothing, noting that "when people are dressed identically, their sexuality is obscured" (p. xv). The poems end with Mulan resuming her position as the good and filial daughter by putting on her makeup and dress. Moving into the translations of the xiqu and cinematic versions of the story, Kwa notes that filial piety and loyalty to family and government become a big part of the story. In all three versions, Mulan promises her parents that she will remain chaste and manages to ingratiate herself with the men that she leads. While there is some suspicion and romantic intrigue in all three versions, Mulan's cover remains intact until the very end when she reveals herself as a woman to her closest friends and comrades. The conventions of xiqu demand that each play must have a rounded ending, or tuanyuan, where the events of the play must be resolved. In the cases of The Female Mulan Joins the Army in the Place of Her Father and Mu Lan Joins the Army, Mulan arrives home and, as in all versions of the story, is instantly married to a neighbor, Mr. Wang, and rejects her Second-in-Command Liu Yuandu, thus forming the tuanyuan. However, in the ending to the 1903 version of Mu Lan Joins the Army, the rewards that Mulan receives for her valor and bravery in the field are transferred from her to her male cousin, Mu Shu, who [End Page 339] refused to join the army at the beginning of the...