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• 1 2022-07-01T10:43:37+00:00 Hua Mulan
  花木蘭 (1956) 126 plain 2025-07-21T19:25:59+00:00

  Opera Film
  Directors: Liu Guoquan 劉國權 and Zhang Xinshi 張辛實

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  LINKS TO THE FILM

  • The film with Chinese subtitles (just for the songs) on bilibili.
  • The film with Chinese subtitles (for dialogue and songs) on bilibili.

  INFORMATION

  • Name: Hua Mulan 花木蘭
  • Year: 1956
  • Director: Liu Guoquan 劉國權, Zhang Xinshi 張辛實
  • Producer: Changchun Film Studio (Changchun dianying zhipian chang 長春電影製片廠)
  • Actors: Chang Xiangyu 常香玉
  • Music: Lou Zhanghou 婁彰後
  • Language: Chinese Mandarin
  • Duration: 100 minutes

  INTRODUCTION 

  The main actress Chang Xiangyu 常香玉 (1923-2004) was a famous Yu opera (豫, Henan clapper opera) performer. In 1950, the Korean War (1950-1953) war broke out between North and South Korea to gain control over the Korean peninsula. The two sides were backed by the PR China and the US respectively. Starting in 1951, Chang Xiangyu performed renditions of Hua Mulan in her distinctive style of Henan clapper opera to support Chinese war efforts.
  
  The script was written and the performance directed by Chang’s husband, playwright Chen Xianzhang 陳憲章 (1917-2000). From the proceeds of 170 live performances across China, Chang Xiangyu eventually raised 1.52 billion RMB and was able to donate one MiG-15 jet fighter aircraft to the People’s Volunteer Army. (Fig. 1) She and her troupe also went to North Korea in 1953 in order to perform for the soldiers. In 1956, the acclaimed Changchun Film Studio 長春電影製片廠 adapted Chang’s live Mulan performance as an opera film. If Xu Wei’s play had centered on Mulan’s devotion to her family as the motivation for her military service, this new adaptation also foregrounded Mulan’s patriotism.
  

  PLOT SUMMARY

  During the Northern and Southern Dynasties, steppe people invade the territory of the Northern Wei Dynasty. Hua Hu 花弧, Mulan’s father, is ordered to enlist in the army. Mindful of Hua Hu’s old age and his poor health, Mulan decides to disguise herself as a man and join the army under her younger brother’s name (Hua Muli 花木力) as a substitute for her father.

  On the way to the battlefield, Hua Mulan meets four friends who have also been called up to serve as recruits. Among them, a man named Liu Dage 劉大哥 asks why it is that women can stay at home and be at leisure while the men are fighting to defend their country. Mulan answers that the clothes and shoes that they wear all derive from women’s handiwork.

  Shortly thereafter, they come upon the battle between the Northern Wei army and its enemies. Thanks to her skillful use of the spear, Mulan rescues Marshal He 賀元帥 and gains his support. Twelve years later, Hua Mulan is promoted to the position of a general on account of her outstanding military contributions. She plays a key role in apprehending the leader of the enemy army and eventually brings the war to an end.
  
  In appreciation of Mulan’s martial talents, Marshal He seeks to arrange a marriage between Mulan and his own daughter. Mulan promises to secure the consent of her parents and asks for a fast horse for her return home. When Marshal He visits the Hua family to formally present his marriage proposal, he asks to meet “Hua Muli”, the name under which Hua Mulan had performed her military service. To He's dismay, a teenage boy – Mulan’s younger brother, the real owner of this name – appears in response to his request. Marshal He is annoyed and asks why Hua Hu is fooling him. Left with no other choice, Hua Hu calls for Mulan. Dressed in female clothing, Mulan addresses Marshal He in a male’s voice. At that point, they piece together the whole story.

  THEME: Transforming Into a Man

  The first transformation scene (29:43-31:40) takes place at Mulan’s home. Mulan’s parents are hesitant to accept Mulan’s idea of joining the army in place of her father. In her quest to convince them, Mulan first defeats her father to show her outstanding martial skill. She then expresses her strong determination to fulfill her filial duties. Mulan’s father asks her to put on his armor before he makes the final decision.

  Mulan tries on her father's armor

  Click to expand/collapse Translation Notes

  
  The second transformation scene, albeit an imaginary once, takes place when she serves in the army. As Mulan imagines that she has returned home, she restores her feminine identity. She unconsciously adopts a feminine style in her gestures and postures. However, after she uses a piece of curtain as handkerchief to cover her face—a quintessentially female gesture--she suddenly realizes that she is still in her male disguise. Thereupon, she once again assumes a male posture by putting her hands behind her back. (1:26:46-1:27:08). Thus, the film suggests that even during her service in the army, she never loses touch with her feminine identity.

  Mulan imagines herself going back home

  Click to expand/collapse Translation Notes

   

  Chinese Subtitles	CTC Translation
  木蘭：（唱）花木蘭就要快馬轉還鄉。	Mulan (sings): I, Hua Mulan, is going to back to my home on a fast horse.
  Mulan imagines the situation when she meets her parents and younger siblings again.
  木蘭：（唱）居家人聽說心花放，不知道怎樣歡樂，可該怎樣忙。	Mulan (sings): My family must be delighted. I can imagine how happy and busy they will be.
  木蘭：（唱）爹娘迎兒在村頭上，弟弟為我宰豬羊。姐姐想必還是當年樣，她拉住木蘭問短長。爹問問女，女問問娘。居家人歡歡樂樂回草堂。	Mulan (sings): My parents will welcome their daughter at the entrance of our village. My younger brother will cook pork and lamb dishes for me. My elder sister must be the same as before, she will hold my hand and ask about my experience. My father will care about his daughter, while I, the daughter, will talk to my mother. The whole family will be back to our house happily together.
  木蘭：（唱）開我東閣門，坐我西閣床。脫我戰時袍，著我舊時裳。當窗理雲鬢，對鏡貼花黃。勤紡勤織我孝敬二爹娘。	Mulan (sings): I open the doors of my room, sitting on my bed. I take off my garb, and then put on my female dress. I arrange my hair in front of the window and apply make-ups in the mirror. I will finish my weaving labor diligently in order to show my filial piety.
  木蘭：花將軍又變成了花家的女郎。	Mulan (sings): The General Hua becomes the daughter of Hua family again.

  The third transformation scene takes place after Mulan’s return home. Instead of narrating this transformation process from the perspective of Mulan, our audience follows the point of view of Marshal He, who finds out Hua Muli is not the person he has known for over ten years.
  
  First, we hear Mulan’s feminine voice resound from the inner chamber. Then, when Mulan, in female garb, greets the Marshal, he fails to recognize her even though he looks directly into her face. However, when Mulan addresses him with a manly voice, he recognizes that familiar voice and accepts the fact that Mulan, who had pretended to be the man Hua Muli, is in fact a woman. 

  Mulan greets Marshal He after restoring her female identity

  Click to expand/collapse Translation Notes

   

  Chinese Subtitles	CTC Translation
  花弧：木蘭！	Hua Hu: Mulan!
  木蘭：爹爹。	Mulan (in a feminine voice): Father.
  花弧：賀元帥在此，要見于你，不要害羞，你來呀！	Hua Hu: Marshal He is here. He wants to see you. Don’t be shy, come on!
  木蘭：哎！	Mulan: I’m coming.
  花弧：（唱）賀元帥再三來把兒問⋯⋯	Hua Hu (sings): Marshal He asks several times about my child…
  A similar scene happens in the transformation scene 1, when Mulan change her clothes from dresses to armor.
  木蘭：（唱）脱去了連環甲穿上羅裙。	Mulan (sings): I take off the armor and put on my dress.
  花弧：女兒，他來傳喚你！	Hua Hu: My daughter! He is calling for you.
  木蘭：（唱）羞慚慚我只把客堂來進。諒元帥認不得，兒是那陣前的將軍。	Mulan (sings): Shyly, I just step into the guest room. I bet the Marshal will fail to realize that I am the General from the battlefield.
  木蘭：見元帥。	Mulan: My respects to you.
  元帥：罷了，花將軍請⋯⋯ 哎？花木力乃一堂堂男子，你為何叫一女子來見，是何道理？	Marshal: General Hua, please… Hua Muli is a man, why do you send a woman to meet me?
  花弧：這就是那陣前的花⋯⋯	Hua Hu: In the battlefield, she is the Hua…
  元帥：花什麼？	Marshal: Hua…what?
  木蘭：（效男子聲音）元帥。	Mulan (imitates male’s voice): Sir!
  The Marshal and his comrades are all astonished by the fact that Mulan is a woman.

  During Mulan’s service in the army, the change of voice is done in a subtle way; by contrast, in this scene, voice as a significant identifying mark of one’s gender is highlighted. The gendered transformation of Mulan in this Yu opera version, therefore, hinges on three major factors: costumes, postures as well as voice.

  WORKS CONSULTED: CLICK TO EXPAND/COLLAPSE

  "Hua Mulan: yuju yu qita yishu"《花木兰》（豫剧与其他艺术）(Hua Mulan: Yu Opera and other arts). Zhongguo da baike quanshu 中国大百科全书 (The Chinese Encyclopedia). Accessed August 10, 2023. https://www.zgbk.com/ecph/words?SiteID=1&ID=25588. 

  "Yuju Hua Mulan juben" 豫剧《花木兰》剧本 (The Script of the Yu Opera Hua Mulan). Jianpuwang. Accessed August 10, 2023. http://www.jianpuw.com/htm/qv/58010.htm.

  AUTHOR

  Li Zhao