The Real Mulans

A few years ago, Disney released the animated film Mulan, which was tagged as based on the legend of Hua Mulan (presumably quite loosely and without the Eddie Murphy-voiced guardian dragon).

Hua Mulan lived in the 4^th century, in north-western China. She was the daughter of a veteran who dressed as a man to take her family’s place in the army (her father was too old, her brother too young) and she fought for many years, earning – so the legend goes – 12 ranks which she refused, and in the end she retired, ultimately dying of old age. She remained undiscovered throughout her military career, but she’s not the only Chinese soldier who happened to be a woman. In fact, one of the most famous never masqueraded as a man in the first place.

Wang Cong’er (who has been wrongly referenced as Disney’s inspiration) was a general, who led the White Lotus Rebellion against Manchu in the Qing period (18^th Century) Ultimately, the rebellion was put down, but it is worth noting she was feared by her enemies, who considered the troops she led to be the deadliest of the rebels. The fact she could lead an army without disguising herself as a man is significant – it reminds us that, like almost every other culture in history, China has a tradition of warrior women as well as the quiet, passive ones the West tends to associate with Chinese history.

Further East, Japan has a terrible reputation for historical gender imbalance. So why do you barely need to scratch the surface to find the names and stories of Empress Jingu, who ruled after her husband died in the 3^rd Century and led the successful invasion of Korea; Tomoe Gozen, a 12^th Century concubine of Minamoto no Yoshinaka, described in The Tale of the Heike as “especially beautiful, with white skin, long hair, and charming features. She was also a remarkably strong archer, and as a swordswoman she was a warrior worth a thousand, ready to confront a demon or a god, mounted or on foot. She handled unbroken horses with superb skill; she rode unscathed down perilous descents.”

But she’s not alone. There were many other onna bugeisha, or female samurai throughout Japanese history, like Nakano Takeko of the 19^th Century, who led a corps of women warriors during the Boshin War, a corps that included her sister, and who died leading a charge. And what of Hojo Masako? She lived in the late 12^th and early 13^th Centuries, and was such an astute and formidable political player in the warrior government of the time, they called her the ama-shogun, or nun-shogun. The Western ideas of the gender history of the East, it seems, are sadly out of touch with the facts. Pity, given the facts are so much more interesting.