Mulan’s Legend and Legacy in China and the United States

In Mulan's Legend and Legacy in China and the United States, Lan Dong traces the development of this popular icon and asks, "Who is the real Mulan?" and "What does authenticity mean for the critic looking at this story?" Dong charts this character's literary voyage across historical and geographical borders, discussing the narratives and images of Mulan over a long time spanofrom pre-modern China to the contemporary United States to Mulan's counter-migration back to her homeland. As Dong shows, Mulan has been reinvented repeatedly in both China and the United States so that her character represents different agendas in each retellingoespecially after she reached the western hemisphere. The dutiful and loyal daughter, the fierce, pregnant warrior, and the feisty teenaged heroineoeach is Mulan representing an idea about female virtue at a particular time and place.