Product Description

According to legend, there was a young woman named Mulan whose aged and frail father was conscripted. Mulan, unwilling to see her father fighting in a war, disguises herself as a man and joins the army in his place. For the next ten years she shows remarkable skill as a warrior and becomes a famous general. Her true identity remains hidden from her comrades until the very end. Now, over fifteen centuries later, Mulan continues to be an inspiration to Chinese girls and women. She embodies the belief that woman—if given the opportunity—are capable of accomplishing the same feats as men.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #821882 in Books
• Published on: 1998-04-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 32 pages

From School Library Journal

Gr 2-5-The poem about a girl who dresses as a man and becomes a soldier to save her ailing father from conscription has long been known in China. This bilingual edition, translated into third-person narrative prose, is set firmly in the Northern Wei dynasty (386-534), when the poem may have originated. Mulan puts on armor, takes up sword and spear, and fights with the army for 10 years. She is so successful that the emperor offers her a rich reward, but she asks only to return to her village. Once home, she puts on women's clothes, convincing her former comrades that courage and fighting skills are not the province of men alone. Zhang's literal interpretations of classic Chinese landscape paintings are stiffly formal, lacking the freshness, spontaneity, and strong sense of composition that distinguishes his work in Little Tiger in the Chinese Night (1993) and Cowboy of the Steppes (1997, both Tundra). In contrast to Jeanne M. Lee's The Song of Mu Lan (Front Street, 1995), this book shows human characters as heroic but cold, while the backgrounds are so cluttered that the main artistic narrative is hard to follow. Lee's text, mostly first-person narration by Mulan herself, is also more immediate and vivid. A detailed historical note is appended, along with the text of the poem in simplified Chinese characters. Libraries with extensive Chinese collections will want this new title, but Lee's version remains the first choice.-Margaret A. Chang, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, North Adams

Copyright 1998 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Language Notes
Text: English, Chinese

Customer Reviews

Beautifully Done
This version of the original Mulan poem includes both the English translation and the original Chinese Characters. The artwork is beautiful, with lots of detail to look at on each page. There is also a short history of the poem included. I love this book because it is a great way to really share with your child the true rendition of the poem. Don't get me wrong, my daughter loves the Disney movie "Mulan," but I'm always concerned with historical acuracy, and this book does a beautiful job of showing and telling that story.

Ballad Review
In this portrayal of the famous ballad of Mu Lan ,or Fa Mulan as some call her, a story of a young woman who saves China is depicted. She puts her life in danger to protect the life of her father by taking his place in the draft. This very moving and heart warming poem is very well written and a must read if you are interested in the story at all. Its good to see the real work that the movie was based on...