The Multiple Layers of Mulan’s Legend in Chinese Classical Literature

In the study of the literary metamorphosis of Mulan, a tradition has been introduced to compare its various English reconfigurations with its supposed Chinese source text “Mulan shi.” This tradition, which proves productive in examining Mulan’s transmission across historical and geographical borders, is however criticised for its specious assertion that there is but one original text of Mulan in Chinese. Thus, a rather contentious subject arises: what is the original Mulan in Chinese culture? This article investigates eight versions of Mulan’s story in Chinese classical literature. Through analysing the moral discourses of Confucianism expressed in these texts and how they are closely interwoven with their respective narrative structures, this article argues that the authentic Mulan in Chinese literary traditions is a palimpsestic story, composed of multiple layers of Confucian interpretations of the ancient ballad, defined by a range of Confucian virtues involving filiality, loyalty, chastity, and so on. Except for the earliest ballad, these texts are artfully adapted to Confucian morals and doctrines espoused by imperial interests of Chinese feudalism. They revise the ancient ballad according to Confucian models and ideals as a pedagogical effort to preach feudal China’s political orthodoxy.