What is history: it is the echo of the past to the future, the reflection of the future on the past. - Hugo
Mulan's deeds have been passed down to this day, the ancient Chinese hero, loyal filial piety and righteousness, on behalf of his father to defeat the invading nation from the army and passed down through the ages, the Tang Dynasty emperor posthumously named "Filial Piety General". The circulation of Mulan's story should be attributed to the folk song "Mulan Ci", but Mulan's surname, place of origin, etc., are not accurately recorded in the history books.
After the Tang Dynasty, many literati created different images of Mulan, of which the Ming and Qing dynasties changed the most. The image of Mulan heroically serving in the army on behalf of her father has become the spiritual sustenance of women in the Ming and Qing dynasties. Mulan, who joined the army on behalf of her father and became a model of loyalty and filial piety, is an idol of talented women in the Ming and Qing dynasties.
Since the Tang Dynasty, the story of Mulan has been very popular, but the social atmosphere of the Ming and Qing dynasties attaches great importance to women's chastity, and women generally have the bad habit of foot binding. Therefore, at this time, the Mulan in the literature was inevitably "wrapped" in small feet, and Mulan's task, in addition to establishing great achievements on the battlefield, needed to maintain chastity in the army full of men. Therefore, how Mulan is not seen through her daughter's body has become the focus of the Ming and Qing dynasties.
Although the Mulan text of the Ming and Qing dynasties is still based on the "Mulan Ci", its content changes with society, in addition to the original family reunion ending, there is an additional version that ends with Mulan committing suicide.
For example, in the "Distinguishing the Portrait of General Xiaolie", created by Hou Youzao in the Yuan Dynasty, because the emperor wanted to take Mulan as a concubine, he forced Mulan to refuse marriage in such a fierce way as suicide. Written in the sui and Tang dynasties in the early Qing Dynasty, Mulan's ending is similar to Hou You's version, and he also embarks on the road of suicide. The Mulan in "The Biography of the Heroic And Heroic Daughter of Loyalty and Filial Piety" is the Three Shang Chen Qing Table, who originally planned to take refuge in buddhism and guard the funeral of his brother, and finally committed suicide to end his life. The Ming and Qing dynasties, with their strict etiquette, not only restrained women, but also bound Mulan, forcing her to take the desperate road of suicide to show her loyalty.
Why did Mulan choose to end her life after returning to her hometown?
In fact, it is closely related to Mulan's daughter being recognized. Because she was discovered of her true gender, she attracted the desire of Tianzi to include her as a concubine in the palace, or because she had gone far away and no longer maintained her virginity, although Mulan was a good daughter who did filial piety, she was still regarded as a demon who could not be tolerated. All this is because she conceals her gender, so that when Yijin returns to her hometown, a strong sense of guilt for bullying ensues, forcing Mulan to die Mingzhi. Under the etiquette, men's and women's clothing are very different, and the Mulan text that carefully looks at the happy ending of the Yuan Dynasty is also very problematic, and there is still an injustice to women and daughters.
For example, in the Ming Dynasty Xu Wei (1521-1593) "Female Mulan For Her Father to Serve in the Army", the Qing Dynasty Yong'en (1727-1805) "Double Rabbit" and the late Qing Dynasty "Northern Wei Qishi Xiaoxiao Lie Biography", Mulan, after recovering her daughter, must put down the various things that her surrogate father served in the army, in order to obtain "forgiveness" to solve the problem of impolite etiquette for women to dress as men. Therefore, in the happy ending, mulan spent ten years to build military feats, the results of which were received by her brother or husband, and Mulan returned to her home to meet the requirements of the Ming and Qing dynasties for women.
In the Ming and Qing dynasties, Mulan has a clear line between men's and women's clothing.
Mulan after the Yuan Dynasty, the transformation between women's clothing and men's clothing, is not as simple as it seems on the surface, but like what modern people call "gender labels". Mulan, who wears men's clothes, is like temporarily erasing the original "female label" on her body, and the people around her give her a high degree of affirmation when they do not see her original gender, and Mulan can also play her strengths more freely. However, once it is recognized, the symbol is re-labeled with a "gender label", and Mulan must return to the "original position" that women should have. Regardless of the above-mentioned ending, Mulan's ending is more passive, but Mulan's own view? Are you really willing to go home willingly?
Li Guiyu's bullet lyric work "Durian Dream" Exploring Mulan's resentment that Mulan cannot communicate with outsiders' thoughts, it may be speculated from the Qing Dynasty female lyricist Li Guiyu(1821-1850) 'Durian Dream'. This dramatic work tells the life of a generation of female generals Gui Huankui (Gui Bifang), which Li Guiyu described as an all-person who has never existed in ancient and modern times, "is the head of the female class and the leader of the article." Holding the talent of heaven and earth, the power of spinning dry and turning Kun, the only thing that is heard when the negative rescue is lost", Gui Huankui can be said to be a collection of sages, famous generals, heroes, empresses and good mothers, but when she became famous with male clothing, she also faced the crisis of restoring her daughter's body, and the pressure from the emperor, parents, fiancés, sisters and other people came from the mountains and the sea.
Mulan was recognized behind her daughter, and her past behavior was questioned because of her gender. When her father forced her to change back into women's clothes, Gui Huankui complained bluntly: "The children of the capital should not hang brocade clothes with the dynasty." I don't know if my child has suffered a thousand things, but he has exchanged his remnants for an official." Finally, under the emperor's order, Gui Huankui had to wear women's clothes back, and her inner feeling was "one day angry and angry, Ten Thousand Dao Anger Rong Zhen Jiuxiao". In the end, Gui Huankui returned to her family under great pressure that could not be shaken off, but she later decided to cultivate, severed the relationship between husband and wife, and ascended to heaven to break away from her husband's family.
Mulan, who resonates with the talented women of the Ming and Qing dynasties, even if Mulan is ultimately tragic and more resentful in the Ming and Qing texts, Mulan's life experience is a yearning for the Ming and Qing women who are full of talent but bound by etiquette, which resonates with them.
Gu Ruopu (1592-1681), a talented woman in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, after reading Xu Wei's miscellaneous drama "Four Voices of apes" (which contains "Female Mulan Serving in the Army for Her Father"), created a poem "Reading "Four Voices of Apes" and sending "Qinyuan Spring" with Mulan as the title: Cai Zi Mi Heng, "Parrot" Male Word, Splendid Heart. Hate the old man to open a feast, regard it as the history of drums; mix the scolding seat, and the voice becomes Yuyang. Haojie's name is high, the adulterous male is bold, and the prefectural government re-translates the surname Xiang. Yu Zen old, sigh lost the body of a prostitute, He Fa Lianfang? Mulan took his father to the battlefield, and he was more revered to ascend to the Tianzi Hall. Zhenwu Survey Formation, Female Hero General; Wen Kan Hua Guo, Female Champion Lang. Leopard thief into a catch, stork Qiu Xinfu, who knows the bridesmaids? Bearded man, on the bottom of the pomegranate skirt, why bother? "Reading the "Four Voices ape" to send "Qinyuan Spring" is also a woman, Gu Ruopu in this que words to praise Mulan and "female champion" Huang Chonggao (born in about 883, once a woman dressed as a man as a seven-pin Sihu to join the army, with the talent of reasoning, posterity known as female Zhuangyuan), for their courage to go out of the boudoir, defend the family and defend the country to express the highest appreciation and recognition. And the end of the word "on the bottom of the pomegranate skirt, prostrate what is wrong", for today's "worship under the pomegranate skirt" origin.