Seriously, someone should start a channel just talking about Chinese warrior women and there would be years of solid content.

Notice Qin Liangyu was mentioned on the list *Smiles* There're various warrior women throughout Chinese history, but she is the only one that got recorded as a general in her own right, instead of being part of the exemplary women section of history books.

"Was Mulan unremarkable?" Yes, it very much was- oh wait we're talking about the character not the films

Always glad to see some appreciation for Xun Guan, she was the great-granddaughter of the famous Later Han strategist, Xun Yu who at 13 managed to break out of a siege that no one else was willing to try and get to her father's allies who she rallied together to defeat the rebels attacking her father. In the ensuing battle she fought as equals with the highly esteemed generals that had come to the rescue and helped destroy the rebels.

The oldest description of military ambush in Chinese history is of Fu Hao's successful ambush of her enemies. In her tomb, there; s also the oldest archery ring ever found.

Foot binding was a senseless and evil practice that brought nothing but pain and suffering to those unfortunate enough to endure it.

Disney picked up on Mulan the same way there was Flower Drum Song before it. It was a common story among the multigeneration Chinese Americans who finally broke into mainstream by going to University of California in large numbers, and later becoming teachers,, historians, and filmmakers in their own right. Of course Chinese American films were never given big budgets or broad releases, but all of the foundations are there for the eventual Mulans and Kung Fu Pandas. Maybe the most famous one is Justin Lin's Better Luck Tomorrow. It is a Chinese American version of A Better Tomorrow and also based on true events.

Also there was Empress Mao, wife of Fu Deng and Empress of Former Qin (one of 16 Kingdoms), who was known for a brave commander fought along with her husband.

I think the "Disney Factor" plays a huge part in Mulan's popularity in the west. But then again, that's just my hunch.

My personal favourites are probably Shen Yunying and Qin Liangyu, both from the Ming Dynasty. They're completely opposites of each other in their stories. Qin Liangyu is probably the one people remember more, as she was a very powerful and well-loved general with a lot written about her. Qin Liangyu grew up in a distinguished military family and pretty much joined the military as soon as she was old enough to. She is most famous for defending Ming against the invading Manchurians (which would become the Qing Dynasty) and rebel groups who tried to establish their own dynasties during the chaos. Even after most of Ming fell, she held out in Sichuan and accepted refugees, where people actually prospered under her rule (basically she had become defacto governor as the lines of government had largely collapsed). The last emperor of Ming sang praises of her and gave her the title of a marquis. She kept fighting until her death at 75 years old from natural causes. On the other hand you have Shen Yunying who - while having a father in the army - had a gentle disposition and wasn't particularly interested in military stuff. But history forced her hand at the age of 14 when her father's unit was trapped and then wiped out by rebels. She - apparently out of sheer grief and/or familial duty - took 30 soldiers, penetrated enemy lines to retrieve her father's body, routed the enemies by tricking them into thinking she had a much larger force, and then reported vital intel to the military. For her actions she was appointed as what is roughly equivalent to a colonel. Not much is publicly available about what she did in the military afterwards, but she continued to serve in the Ming army for some years. After her husband died in combat (and 2 years before Qin Liangyu died), she retired to teach history and calligraphy. Unfortunately she died at a relatively young age of 38. While Qin Liangyu was someone who had set her eyes on greatness since she was a young girl, Shen Yuying represents a common person who never wanted to be a hero, but stepped up because life called her to. Both are great embodiments of their human spirit.

I can't believe you actually missed out on Yang's clan heroines. They literally are a family of women warriors/commanders.

So the solutions to Mulan are either making her a cultivator, which is quite unlikely, or keeping her relatively simple as she supposed to be since she is supposed to inspire the role of what every woman in the world can do and can achieve something as great as men.

Mu Guiying is fiction but she is the one of the most famous female warrior in China. Disney would not pick he because she captured the man she duel with to become her husband.

The grand traditions continue to this day, in the "himekishi" archetypes in Japanese media! (of course **ahem** in what kind of genre they usuaully pop up.. is another matter entirely)

Okie... I think you missed some bits about Mulan... 1. She is of "Warrior Family", because her father's name were listed on all 12 mobilization call, that means her family is of "warrior/soldier" class, and she get legal access to armor as well, that also make her family stand out compare to "farming/production" class. 2. Mulan end up as a mid-ranking commanding officer at least, in the ballad the line when it comes to promotion of Mulan at the end of the war, it stated "木蘭不用尚書郎", which means "Mulan wishes not for the position of imperial secretary". This is a secretary position that helps the Emperor dealing with documentation and other office works, so one have to be able to read, write, knowing how to deal with imperial rules to be able to take this job. Therefor this can not be a position be granted to an normal soldier, and one with such capability will at least be a mid-ranking commanding officers, for those are required skills for them to deal with their duty.

During the Qing Dynasty, the custom of closing the foot became very widespread, not much before

Thanks for the cool videos!

another female commander was Gao Guiying. she was second most important in the group, so when the leader died, she was in-charge of everything. even though her end wasn't happy, i think there should be a movie about her

Straight up just used the Disney Mulan picture in the beginning, lol. Awesome.

Love how different your videos are and the voice of narration 😃

You forgot mu gui ying

Joan of Arc required no magic to prevail, just faith and power of will

good start，bro

Finally!! Someone talking about Liang hongyu! She truly mad a comeback as an true underdog

I think they picked Mulan because her name is easy to say and sounds nice to the western language speaker.

Empress Sun! I was impressed with her treatment as the commander at the Battle of Beijing in the Epic 大明风华

Interesting video. Growing up I watched a lot of HK costume dramas and one of them was about the General Yang's wife She Saihua. I don't know if it is historically accurate, but I always felt that women were taught martial. From legend of the condor hereos to Chor Lau-heung, all of the wuxia series had badass women. As a result, I assumed mulan was taught martial arts by her father, since he served in the military. It feels natural to me and practical for self defense. Having studied karate with both my son and daughter, you don't just learn to fight in 3 months and definitely not with weapons. In the US, karate and TKD students don't start learning weapons until the teacher feels they have enough skill to handle weapons safely. Some TKD schools will start kids with padded nunchuk, but no school in the US would teach kids swords, spears or anything with blades. Even though the history on mulan is murky, I assume she had some martial art training. As a father, the thought of sending my child to war without some martial art training is terrifying. Given the turbulent nature of those times, I would have trained my kids in some kind of self defense.

Wait, is the thumbnail picture from the old ROTK games? Love the artwork.

I've always *always* wondered exactly that, why patriarchal society is so fascinated by female warriors while at the same time actively discouraging them, meanwhile other egalitarian ones like the Khitans don't have this kind of fascinations (that I know of) and I still don't have a satisfactory answer 🤷 Edit : I meant the Khitans not the Jurchen

You left out Zheng Yi (Pirate Commander), Lin SiNiang (Warrior), She SaiHua （Commander） Other Fictional：Zhu Rong (Warrior), Sun ErNiang (Martial Artist), Qiu QiongYing (Commander/Warrior), Lv SiNiang（Assassin)， Yang PaiFeng (Warrior), Mu GuiYing (Commander), Fan LiHua (Warrior Commander)

Awesome!

this is brilliant! as an ABC and a woman i love to learn about stories like this. both the narration and graphics are great!

You did it. Cool

Mulan is not uncommon. During the 1931-1945 war against Japan, the Chinese army also found some female soldiers disguised as men during the war. There is also a 15-year-old girl who avenged her father, because the army did not want female soldiers to follow the army for hundreds of kilometers, so the army agreed to join her. After following the troops to fight, 80% of them made military exploits. During the Korean War, because she was sitting and lying in the snow for a long time, it was difficult for her to change her underwear when she dressed as a male soldier, and she suffered from serious gynecological diseases. Finally, she confessed to her superiors, but she could only have her uterus removed under the influence of long-term pain. After the war she was transferred to the rear to work.

Could start a whole new channel about them, eh? YES, PLEASE. 👏

Would love to have a detailed video for each of the women mentioned!

Great video! Is there a book on the female martial arts warriors in ancient China?

Also the Yang family's mother and wives. It all really depends on how the story is passed on and depicted.

I guess because Mulan is a pseudo-fictional figure who can be rewritten in many different ways, so her story gets popular enough to spread to the west. Also. Historically, China does have a lot of nomadic tribes in which warrior women/gender equality are much more of a norm, so that partially explains why warrior women occur more during nomadic rule and when "Han influenced by nomads" who are stationed on the frontiers who fights against these nomads historically. As for literature, it is to usually make the point "all the men already died fighting for this cause"

Listed in the Chinese Wikipedia alone were 10 Mulan films and 4 TV Shows made in Chinese before Disney's 1998 Mulan (two in 1939 alone). I think the Chinese are far more fascinated with her than America.

Interesting video! Though I should note that there are more warrior women in European history/mythology/literature than one might initially think, it will just take a bit of digging to find them (two good starting points are "The Encyclopedia of Amazons" by Jessica Amanda Salmonson and "Women Warriors: An Unexpected History" by Pamela D. Toler, although the latter deals strictly with historical examples)

did you cover the origins and history of foot-binding? i saw a video that said foot-binding's origin is unclear and it was mainly in china (china proper). popular with the han people because the manchu qing did try to ban the practice but decided not to

You could find female warriors in every culture in the history (also tons of great females). Though you will have to discover them (for an example, I remember there was a female pharaoh was been erased literally in Egyptian history) . Most of Chinese female the great were mostly remembered by the folk fine arts (poem, song lyrics, drama, and novel) instead of official record. And some of them has been revisioned by modern researchers( like Emperor Wu Zetian was been considered as an great emperor with some cruel habits today instead of a tyrant in the old official record ). And the Chinese Communist party spend huge cost to propaganda those heroic woman during their feminist movement is also a part of reason why there was so many female warriors. It is not about how many heroic females out there it is just how many of them can be remembered and recorded.

Some say Mulan was from Xianbei ethincity, which belonged to a nomadic culture and like in many other nomadic cultures, women were allowed to fight in the battlefield with men side by side, so Mulan was not special even for being a warrior.She was just one of the many nomadic female warriors.

Interesting cut at 3:29, with Adam Cheng the lovable/hate-able poster boy of the genre. Who was the actress playing the woman warrior there?

I always wondered why there were so many women in Chinese martial arts movies.

do not forget the dynasty series bro

I think all cultures has women that don't shy away from taking challenges like defending their tribes or country. During the war of the triple alliance against Paraguay it is said that the entire population of women fought against the enemy.

Mulan is awesome. She's either a han Chinese person under Mongolic rule(northern wei) or she's xianbei(proto mongols) who were the ruling class and military of northern wei.

A reason why it seems warrior women are non-existent in Western stories until recently is because there was tendency to erase any mention of women participating in any martial matter because they thought it was "unfeminine" for a woman fighting. From the time Christianity started to spread on the continent, and the overall "cleaning" of folktales during the Victorian period, female characters with a proactive character in a narrative became scarce and relay more and more the passive, not conflicting damsel in distress, the famous Disney princess archetype who can sing at best, which is subjected to this day as "bad female models" when in reality they just remove the ones who really did things. This was something that happend at least since Ancient Greece where for example Aphrodite used to be a Middle East goddess of both love and war, but for the greeks the combination of those themes seemed too odd for them so they just kept the love part. You could argued that both Artemis and Athena where also warrior women too, but there might a bit of double standards here since both are virgin goddesses, and maybe because they never got laid they where considered "masculine" for never be sumissive towards a man. Just a maybe, but it shows how for some reason the idea of a feminine woman also being a fighter was an alien concept for them. Even to this day people still gaslight about the presence of women in military and political history, just look how when they announced a Call of Duty game years many morons said it was too "unrealistic" to have many female soldiers in WW2 even there where many who did went to war back then. (Even more egregious how they can accept zombies but not a woman with a gun, uh). That doesn't mean warrior women wheren't a thing in Europe, apart of the mentioned goddesses there where other women like Boudicca, Atalanta, Scáthach, and many others. Funny enough Jeanne of Arc wasn't much of a warrior herself, it was said she was a standard bearer, but that's how many legends start by exagerating the details of a real event, yet still able to inspire many generations after.

Because mulan is a famous cartoon from disney. Thank you for acknowledging us about other women warriors.

Asia has a whole has always had a history of strong women (as it actually mentally strong, not the "I am strong, independent woman who don't need no man" kind). For all the talk about her being a brilliant female monarch, Queen Elizabeth I *did not* once led a battle. Even when you look at the Spanish Armada, it was Sir Francis Drake who did most of the fighting. She came in after the fact to.......*give a victory speech*. That's it. So my point is, we as Asians do not need to buy into the Western feminist ideology.

2:08 Finally, Shui hu zhuan

Can you make a video of chiyou

I have so many questions from those foot binding photos and God, I don't think I want then answered

Emperess is also common in old Russia

Excuse me, but during the han dynasty, you forgot another well known warrior woman, who was the wife of an official of the Wei faction, Zhao ang. Her name was Wang Yi, she was well known in history and one of the very few warrior women, who fought against Ma chao.

- I think that Mulan is very popular, as you said, because it is easy to expand and fit different political ideologies. - Therefore it was popularized as manyruling dinasties could manipulate the play to fit their own narrative. - I'm not saying that it is inherently political, just that it was sometimes spun that way and that kept it around (instead of being burned)... IMO.

I just realised that her name is spelled 花木兰 and it means Magnolia tree

Hypothetically, there're actually all of these ladies back in the old day. I guess. They all are the kind of woman who's independent, super-smart and possessed some kind of high level of martial art. There was one woman in ancient China who wanna help her husband in the battlefield so she followed him to the military base everytime he gotta join the army. As it turnout, She pissed him off because he gotta send someone to protected her in the battlefield because she didn't admit to herself her martial art was not that good. It's a basic level or something. Everything ended up at her being at the military base with physician or the one who cooked. Lol She might be jealous all of these women you mentioned in this video. Anyway her husband prefered to have her in military base than not having her there. It's just my speculation. There must have been this kind of woman in ancient china. Lol Love this video by the way.

Wow! Chinese woman strong! Good!

Some many female warriors worthy to be recorded in Throne of Heroes.We only have Qin Liangyu.

Qiu Jin, super badass

梁紅玉及秦良玉也是宋代及明代的女將。

Dowager Borjijin (the golden family of Mongol) from Qing dynasty

Cool and pretty beautiful cute loving awesome in Chinese warrior women girl solid content

As a western newbie to eastern ways, I wonder if anyone has compiled a compendium of good (highly rated--without all the flying) kung fu and martial arts films from China, Japan, and Korea. Is this something you could do, CJ?

Northern nomadic women who fought in history: That's cute.

I find it interesting that while both Japan and China have historically seen a number of warrior in their respective pasts, the role women play now in their respective cultures is very different. As you noted, the patriarchal nature of both societies means that women really weren't the equal of in their ancient pasts, but there was a more utilitarian bent to the view of women in those societies that did not explicitly deny them the right to take up arms for the nation. I'd say that in Japan's case at least, the influence of Westernization and the degree to which it made Japan play a dangerous game of catch up pushed it to its current state where it is a heavily patriarchal society which would much rather see women in the house than at work. On the other side of the straits, the Communist party might just have been what prevented such a mindset from becoming too strongly established there. This really is only my speculation though and I'd say it's just another example of how the way cultures interact leads to them evolving in idiosyncratic ways.

So they were basically the Chinese equivalent to the Amazons.

Love this channel!! in Britain we have Boudicca! The wife of a murdered Chieftain who ultimately lost against the Romans. However her and Queen Elizabeth the 1st and Queen Victoria are heralded as strong women even though they never picked up a weapon. Oh and in Ancient Greece myth there was the Amazon tribe. But this is fascinating!!! Would you possibly do a more in depth look maybe a series about this?

A big Best of the Worst shoutout to Cynthia Rothrock

Huang Rong and Xiao Longnu..

When Disney exprobriates a classic you know a disaster is going to happen. American literature lovers live in fear that Disney will reimage Moby Dick.

Diao Chan..

the part disney live action ruin Ballad of Mulan i am agree....

1:52 Do it~ and I will subscribe.

Does Wang Yi count?

Mu Guiying 😊❤️

what about wurong .

Old Asian women are powerful beyond reckoning

How many xianv have you seen in official history? China has nearly 4,000 years of credible written history, and the number of female generals in official history is still single-digit or even no more than five. This is not too much, but an absolute minority. lay fuhao is not only the wife of the king of Shang, she has her own country and territory, and this territory is not given to her by the king of Shang, but inherited, obviously her marriage with the king of Shang is a political marriage, but it is very Fortunately, they have a good relationship. The Zhou Dynasty established a male clan society, and the status of women declined. After the Zhou Dynasty, Chinese women appeared in history with only surnames, not even names. There is no record of the legendary Hua Mulan in the official history, and the reason why the folk customs of the Northern Dynasties are sturdy and open is the influence of the large number of ethnic minorities in the north. Princess Pingyang was the only woman in Chinese history who was buried with military etiquette. Liang Hongyu used to be a military prostitute and was fortunate enough to marry General Han. Instead of commanding the army, she boosted morale as the general's wife. Qin Liangyu is the wife of a Tusi lord of the Tujia tribe in Sichuan. After her husband died, she took over the title. Female Tusi lords are not uncommon in Chinese history, but they are all ethnic minorities, and lay qin is the only one in Chinese history who A woman whose military merit was conferred the title of nobility.

This is my first time actually seeing the effect of foot binding, and it made me sick. It was a barbarous practice. It's so very good that it's a dead tradition. I think Imma waste my holiday watching Angela Mao, Sibelle Hu, Bridget Lin and a few others doing cool girl stuff.

yea but Disney did a terible job making the Mulan film, culture, image, cloth, hair style, armor, color, building...... hold on, when you made everything wrong, that means you must have known the right answers and do it wrong intentionally! HOLD ON AGAIN! Pity for disney, they got one thing right, she is a girl.

dang fictional characters mostly here too? hollywoods historical narrative has such a difficult time finding traction. and ya i think i would have watched the mulans film if they were of the original variety and would have thoroughly enjoyed it, but being disney it seemed like they were more trying to push an agenda so i skipped entirely. shame.

Can You Talk About Kaitou Joker?

None of them can compare to the Trung Sisters & lady Trieu of Vietnam 😏

Independent episodes are cool, but i miss times when you covered stories in multiple episodes.

Just an ordinary girl . . . with your basic set of superpowers. Probably had a hit off that potion Egg Shen gave Jack Burton in Big Trouble in Little China. See things no one else can see. Do things no one else can do . . . I hear the hangover from that stuff is fierce.

Theres never a good reason why women feel forced to fight. Especially in the ancient world where society felt the weight of responsibility. Most women fought to survive and be able to have children in a world they were accustomed to. - No woman, that isn't crazy; can reconcile being able to have children, with killing someones elses, easily. - unless, its existential. Its a true expression of matriarchy.

So, that settles the who, but where was the why? Was ancient China just that egalitarian, were Chinese women into that sort of thing, were they written as female for storytelling reasons, or was it a version of the “battle babe,” trope? Zheng jiang?

Vietnam has a few examples of women warriors --- usually fighting the Chinese!

Leave it up to women and they’ll say they never get their respect and recognition. Lol

VG

Wu Zetian..

I.like.to.see.chinese.sword.men.may.be.a.top.ten

Non all ancient Chinese women bound their feet. Hakka ladies didn't and don't do this. Other farming communities also.

VERY SIMPLE ANSWER - BECAUSE CHINESE ARE TAUGHT WE ARE ALL HAN WHETHER THROUGHOUT 3000-5000 yrs of HISTORY INTERMARRING WITH HUE AND COASTAL PEOPLES OR MARRYING INTO THE NOMADIC TRIBES OF NORTH ASIA, IF A FAMILY’S MALE FIGHTERS ARE DOWN AND INJURED THEN THE WOMEN HAVE TO STEP UP AND FIGHT TO PROTECT THE FAMILY!!! END OF DISCUSSION AND THIS WAS TAUGHT BY MY GREAT GRANDMA AND MANY OTHER CHINESE FAMILIES I TALK TO AGREE.

First

China invented Girl Power!!!! Ask my mum!!!