Hua Mulan - in Popular Culture

In Popular Culture

The story of Hua Mulan has inspired a number of screen and stage adaptations without taking into account pre-modern Chinese plays and operas about the subject. These include the following:

  • Hua Mulan Joins the Army (1927 film) – a Chinese silent film released by the Tianyi Film Company and directed by Li Pingqian.
  • Mulan Joins the Army (1928 film) – Mingxing Film Company production, directed by Hou Yao. The film was unsuccessful, in part due to the Tianyi film that was released the previous year.
  • Mulan Joins the Army (1939 film) – popular Chinese film made during the war, directed by Bu Wancang.
  • Lady General Hua Mulan (1964 film) – Hong Kong opera film.
  • A Tough Side of a Lady (1998 film) – Hong Kong TVB drama series of Mulan starring Mariane Chan as Hua Mu Lan.
  • Mulan (1998 film) – Disney animated feature based on the legend of Mulan, and the basis of many derivative works.
  • Hua Mu Lan (1999 series) – Taiwan CTV period drama serial starring Anita Yuen as Hua Mu Lan.
  • Mulan II (2004 film) – Sequel to Disney's Mulan (1998 film).
  • Mulan (2009 film) – Live action film about the Chinese Legend.
  • Maxine Hong Kingston re-visited Mulan's tale in her 1975 text, The Woman Warrior. Kingston's version popularized the story in the West and led to an adaptation by Disney, but contained many arbitrary changes that have been widely criticized by other Asian-American scholars, such as Frank Chin.
  • Cameron Dokey created 'Wild Orchid' in 2009, a retelling of the Ballad of Mulan as part of the Once Upon A Time series of novels published by Simon Pulse, an imprint of Simon & Schuster.
  • The Legend of Mu Lan: A Heroine of Ancient China was the first English language picture book featuring the character Mulan published in the United States in 1992 by Victory Press.
  • New Tang Dynasty TV's 2006 Chinese Spectacular featured a stage performance of the story of Mulan.
  • Jamie Chung portrays Mulan in the second season of the U.S. TV series Once Upon a Time.

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