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500
Yuefu
Yuefu refers to both the genre of the Chinese ballad and the group which put together a collection of ballads for the emperor. At approximately 500AD, unknown musicians travelled into the countryside to record the song in a collection known as the Musical Records of the Old and New. -
Play
Xu Wei wrote a two act play called "The Female Mulan Joins the Army," which helped the story regain popularity. -
Novel
Chu Rheno's wrote a novel, Sui Tang Yanyi, about Mulan. This is the first adaptation where Mulan meets a tragic end. After her army is defeated, Mulan's gender is discovered and she is threatened with death unless she marries a lord's son. She chooses to kill herself instead. -
Oracle Bones Translated
In 1903, Liu E began publishing rubbings of oracles bones, and correctly translated a few characters. Later, translations of these bones would reveal the story of Lady Fu Hao, who lived in 1200 BC. She was on of King Wu Ding's 60 wives during the Shang Dynasty. As a high priestess and military general, she had 13,000 soldiers under her command and won many battles. It is believed that Fu Hao may be the source of the Mulan legend. -
Story comes to America
Maxine, an Asian-American, wrote about Mulan in her collection of Asian folk tales "The Woman Warrior." Disney mostly based their version off of this text. -
Tomb discovered
Archaelogists from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences vistied a site noted on the oracles bones as a tomb Wu Ding erected for Lady Fu Hao. After excavation, they found one of the most well-preserved tombs of the Shang Dynasty period. Its discovery seems to confirm the Lady's existence and source of Mulan legend. -
Children's Book
In 1992, Victory Press released a picture book version of the story by Wei Jiang. This brought the story to American children. Eventually, Disney would be inspired by the book and its success. -
Disney Film
In 1998, Disney released the film version of Mulan, bringing their version of the story to children across American and the world. It's release was delayed by the Chinese government and it was never very well-received in China.
