Mulan free essay sample

This type of literature called Yuefu which means a Chinese poem composed in a folk song style. Additionally, this term originally literally meant â€Å"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. We will write a custom essay sample on Mulan or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page 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, Mulan joined the army and went to war instead of her father as a result of filial devotion. People who admired filial devotion mean â€Å"they are filial toward their parents and fraternal toward their brothers†. We could know she was a filial and grateful maiden from her decision that disguised as a man to take her father’s place in the expedition when she confronted the dilemma. At that time, Mulan know her father was retired and too frail to fight, additionally, her brother was too young. Nevertheless, the emperor demanded that every family provide a soldier for his army that indicated from â€Å"The battle-roll was written in twelve scrolls, and every scroll carried my father’s name†. Therefore, Mulan dare to take the responsibility of her family to rush in the war so that her father could live out in the homeland and her younger brother could grownup far away from cruel battles. Even though she spent her beautiful youth and filial, she brought the easy and comfortable life to her family. Moreover, filial devotion was not the sole reason that motivated Mulan to fight but also her patriotic hearts. Otherwise, Mulan could just participate the troop and mingle with the army so that her family would exempt from the punishments. And no doubtful that a patriotic heart is the most powerful weapon that a soldier hold in hand. With a patriotic heart, Mulan become a courageous and skillful heroine from that innocent common maiden that we could portrayed from â€Å"On the northern wind came the sound of the sentry’s drum. The wintry light glinted upon her armor. † The war was so brutal and endless that illustrated by the poem â€Å"After a hundred battles the general was killed, ten years passed by and the warriors could go home†. However, Mulan still insisted on fighting against tenacious enemies because she could not allow the enemies seize her country and oppress her people. The patriotic emotion supports her to fight till the coming of victory in the end. After the victory of the war, Mulan refused the invitation of emperor to be a court official when she was already a general. She did not take â€Å"a reward of one hundred cash† either and just asked for â€Å"a camel will go a thousand leagues a day, to take her back to her old home†. Mulan is a maiden has independent thoughts and her own pursuit of life. She was not allured by money or interests and chose to enjoy indifferent life living like common people. In her mind, she was still an innocent maiden loves to be attractive that we can summarized from the words in the poem obviously â€Å"then I took off my soldier’s robes, and put on the dress that I was wont to wear. I stood at the window to dress my cloudy hair. I went to the mirror and put on my yellow makeup. † Therefore, Mulan was honest to her heart and free from the restriction of money and rights. She was still so brave to give up all honors and come back to the origin: be a considerable and filial daughter of her partners. Even though Mulan received the praise of emperor and the applause of most common people, there was still some suspicion in the ancient Chinese society. A group of conservative people especially men did not agree that Mulan’s action and viewed her behavior as a deviation from the conventional feminine code of conduct. Because according to the typical situation, traditional Chinese women should stay at home and focus their whole attention on their family, husband and children. Therefore, they even thought letting women stay at home would be protection for them. Furthermore, traditional women stressed virginity, but Mulan stayed with other men all days and had body contact inevitably. So through their point of view, Mulan was considered to be lacking in virtue. In sum, the opposition of the conservative group was originated from the same perspective that men and women could not be equal. This unshakable opinion was stemmed deeply in their mind but it was fatuous indeed. Everyone in the country has the responsibility to protect their own land no matter what gender they are. Mulan agreed with it by her action that she took duties to fight for her family as a son and for her country as a man. She did not care others’ rejection because she contended the benefit of her family and country outweighed her own reputation. People would respect and understand her decision made in such an urgent situation. So Mulan challenged the authority of feudal ideology fearlessly and expected the equality between sexes. Another group of people questioned the real reason of Mulan to refuse the official court. They thought her resignation was just an artifice to evade the penalization. In ancient China, army had the strict rules indicated that women were absolutely forbidden to goof around the troop. And Mulan concealed her identity intentionally until she went back home so that her partners were shocked when they saw as the poem said â€Å"living with you for full twelve years, yet never knew that Mulan was a girl! †. Consequently, people deemed that her resignation was not caused by her indifference and love to her parents. However, we could know her decision was made by careful consideration from the description of the poem. First, as we all known men had more advantages than women in fighting and so does Mulan. But, Nowadays, Chinese women prefer to compete with men in their career and share housework with their husband rather than become a housewife and stay at home all day. They are independent and pursue the equality of men and women. Likewise Chinese men prefer to respect women’ choice and abandon the male chauvinism in their thoughts.