Okay, I saw this in Chinese newspaper. I don't know if it's true but it says after Mulan revealed her identity as a woman, the emperor ( whom I think was probably not an extremely old guy) learned of the news. He wanted Mulan to go back to his palace and become his concubine. Of course Mulan refused, and his majesty was furious. He then demanded Mulan to go to his palace, where he imprisoned her. Mulan, having no other ways to turn to, finally committed suicide by hanging herself. Very, very sad. Therefore, because of her actions, her heroic deeds were erased from history by emperors. But fortunately for us, her deeds lived and flourished amongst the people as folktales.

That IS a sad thought...hope it's not true. But's here's another little historical fact worth mentioning..one that got me grinning when my friend Jennifer was kind enough to share it with me...

The Middle kingdom had many dynasties...

But apparently one of it's greatest and longest lasting was the LI dynasty....

now wouldn't THAT be a fun idea to play with, no?

wow, there are so many versions of the mulan legend, very intriguing, I wonder how the real, real, real legend went...but i definitely think, even with all the different versions with everything said, everything read and everything written: Mulan is a great heroine and a great inspiration!

First, I am very happy to see a lot of people talk about Mulan lately. I am one of those people. We all like the movie, but what is interesting to me is how many different versions of Mulan people have thought up. I guess it' was the ending of the movie that left everything open to people's imagination. I am not sure if you, guys read the original story of Mulan. I got a chance to read it. According to the original, after several victories over the Mongolians in the battle fields, Mulan was called before the Emperor and she was promoted to a general just like her loving father was , but refused to take it and accept a horse ,going back home to her loving family. Her true sex was never revealed until 12 years later when one of her comrades came to visit her. The story ends there. We don't know what happened to her after that. I am not surprised to see different fan fictions about Mulan as I said because of the ending. I think the article in the Chinese newspaper you read is just another fan fiction. No way, we can verify it. The bottom line is I love the movie dearly. I can't remember how many times I watched it. I think the story of Mulan is truly inspiring and touching and certainly will live on in people's hearts forever.

The newspaper article and many other sources said there is evidence Mulan was a real person. She originate from Southern HeNan province ( south of
Yellow river) The village is called Da Zho village. Her real name is Wei Mu Lan. There are tombs of her and her family. By the way, they say all of this happened in Sui Dynasty. Then she was forgotten, but interest in her was revived in Tang dynasty, a temple was built for her. Therefore, the poem Mulan probably came from that time. Some monuments were erected in Qing Dynasty
for her and her family.

Although it probably doesn't involve Mulan's descendants, but just something for our wild imaginations.

I never read that version. Anyway, there are many versions of the legend. I honestly don't know if the version you read is true or not. There are so many versions.

That's very possible, but in "The Art of Mulan" they mention other candidates for the location of the legend, the time of the legend, and the last name of the heroine. The most common last name given is Hua (or Fa, the Cantonese transliteration of the name). The poem on which the legend is based was written between 420 and 581 AD, so the legend has to have occurred sometime before the poem was written. That should be our starting point.

I don't want to sound naive and I'm sorry I'm taking up your time, but I've been wondering, What is a concubine? I saw the movie and know that the Three dressed up at concubines, but...

Could you please tell me?

Don't worry about it =) Questions are welcomed here =) and to answer your question: concubine = mistress