"You're a girl!?" "I never said I wasn't." "True that."

The whole hair cutting thing was always a bit jarring. At the time that the story takes place, neither men nor women would cut their hair. So having long hair wouldn't make her stand out anyhow.

Fun fact: Mulan has the highest kill count of any Disney character.

I grew up in Hong Kong and we recited the entire epic in childhood - its rhythmic punch is why the story got passed on for over a millennium. It's nice to see EC translate and animate the folklore original!

Mulan: I wish to join… even though you’d never except a woma… Recruiters: All right you’re in Mulan: Bruhh

Already 4 minutes in, and this is already more culturally accurate than the new live-action movie. Xiran would certainly be proud of this video.

When Extra History’s extra mythology is better than Disney’s live action mulan

and just to add some fun details from the original, when the father was about the be recruited in the beginning of the tale, they did not say "the king" or "the emperor" were levying armies, in fact, the poem said "the khan". Northern China was a mixture of nomadic peoples and central Chinese population so Disney's idea of the conflicts being "Chinese civilization" versus "nomadic barbarians" have always been frustrating to me

Fun facts: originally, Mulan might have been originally nomadic in origin. Apparently she’s Xianbei in origin as a story. Makes sense, since A) nomadic warriors would be more likely to be female, B) the fact she’s a cavalry soldier, and C) Northern China at the time was a mixed society following the invasion of the barbarians over the centuries (Eight Princes, Five Barbarians). Also fun fact: Disney especially skipped over this, but China was very much not a single country at the time (Northern and Southern dynasties)

"The greatest gift and honor, is having you for a daughter."

Fun fact: The emperor was called "Khan" (可汗）in the original poem. That's because the country which Mulan served was originally nomads from the north before they chase the original Chinese dynasty to the south around 300 A.D . So even Mulan is viewed as a Chinese legend now days, people in the southern dynasty might still view her as a nomads from the north.

"The greatest gift and honor is having you for a daughter." - Fa Zhou, one of Disney's greatest fathers.

"House of the mouse"the perfect introduction to disney

Fun fact: glaciers count as rocks

The Manga: The Myth The Anime: The Disney Movie The Netflix Adaptation: The "Disney" movie

“Let’s get Down to bussiness”, lads!

So I grew up read and had memorized the “ode to Mulan” which was a northern Chinese folk song from medieval China. (And yes I know there are debates on how “Chinese” the northern kingdoms were during the Beichao period”) Does anyone know if there are any other primary source for this myth?

Hi Extra Credit, Mulan actually had an older sister in the original ballad. The original text states “啊姊闻妹来，当户里红妆”。Meaning her sister celebrated and put on her best clothes when she heard Mulan was coming home

Imagine if this was the story for the live-action Disney movie.

Alright, I need to throw my hat into the ring about the whole "Disney ruins myths and folklore" thing. The thing about myths is that they change over time and have different meanings depending on what the time period they are in. A single myth can have HUNDREDS of different versions of the same myth throughout history. Disney's versions are just another version that just happens to be the most popular. I don't like what Disney is doing in the modern day, but the older animated Disney films are fine. Hell, for all we know, the supposed "original" versions of many myths could not even be the original version. It could just be the first version that we have record of. The older versions of the myths will always exist for the people who want them, but myths and folklore are one big game of telephone. If you don't like the movies, that's fine, i'm not saying that you aren't allowed to not like them.

"You may have heard her tale in animated form . . ." But not in live-action form, because that movie SUUUUUUUUUUUUUCKED!

Better than the new movie.

Glad to see you covering Mulan. For such an icon of Chinese folklore, we actually know very little about her. You're using The Ballad of Mulan, which is the earliest and most reliable source. The geographical features mentioned, as well as referring the Emperor as the Khan, sets the story in the Northern Dynasties. Specifically, Northern Wei, in the early 5th century AD. The character designs in the video are pretty decent for the time period, though the hat Mulan wears seems to be taken from art of later centuries. Given the time period, Mulan was likely not an ethnic Han Chinese. Various steppe nomads had conquered the northern half of China, setting up kingdoms here and there until the Tuoba Xianbei united them into the Norther Wei Dynasty. The Xianbei served as a military/aristocratic caste, with Han Chinese usually not allowed in the army. Mulan served with the cavalry, which was more prestigious than the infantry, which makes it more likely that she was a Xianbei. Her enemies were not the Huns, led by Shan-yu, but the Rouran Empire, a prosperous and powerful Turkic people located in what is now Mongolia. Mulan's name also deserves a bit of analysis. No surname was given in the ballad, leading later writers to speculate. People eventually settled on "Hua" or "flower", for its poetic meaning, as "Mulan" means "magnolia." However, since Mulan is a Xianbei, her name could have merely been a transliteration. There were actually men around the same time period named Mulan, so she was probably not named after a flower.

The original story is much better than the Disney remake.

"10,000 miles" often just means "very very far" in Chinese.

i really wish there were more disney movies where the protagonist doesnt have a love interest

This telling of the ballad really helps me appreciated how much the (animated) story was fleshed-out and improved by Disney - one detail does bother me though...that Disney changed her surname Hua to Fa - I noticed you didn't mention her family's name at all in this video. 🤔

This video makes me think about Ming-Na Wen.

Uh…the meeting with the general is never mentioned in the ballad. Her relationships with her fellow soldiers and her exploits are also never mentioned. It’s also never mentioned why she wants to go home….you’re adding a lot to this story for the sake of drama….much like Disney.

That was a much better retelling of Mulan than the Disney version. It makes me wonder why Disney bothered to add in all of the extra drama - Mulan's story is empowering enough without giving her drawbacks of romance or "secrets". She is a legitimately strong person who happened to be a woman - not the other way around. This was a great video! :)

A step by step walkthrough of the original ballad of Mulan, awesome!

My favorite part of the mulan story is how none of them realize that mulan's older veteran father would most likely be made an officer with a desk job rather then a front line fighter

Who needs a reflection to show them who they are inside, when you already know who you are and what’d you’d do to help and protect the people you love? (For some reason, Mulan always reminded me of Toph Beifong as well. Not sure why… guess because they both ran away from home to fight in a war where they turned out to be badasses who kick butt no matter how small they may be. It’s too bad Toph didn’t start out with that great a relationship with her parents, but I guess it got better.)

So amazed that you’re retelling the actual poem! I’m so happy!

Original Poem (It was one of the Chinese lesson during my middle school in Taiwan: 唧唧復唧唧，木蘭當戶織。 不聞機杼聲，惟聞女嘆息。 問女何所思？問女何所憶？ 女亦無所思，女亦無所憶。 昨夜見軍帖，可汗大點兵。 軍書十二卷，卷卷有爺名。 阿爺無大兒，木蘭無長兄。 願為市鞍馬，從此替爺征。 東市買駿馬，西市買鞍韉。 南市買轡頭，北市買長鞭。 朝辭爺孃去，暮宿黃河邊。 不聞爺孃喚女聲，但聞黃河流水鳴濺濺。 旦辭黃河去，暮至黑山頭。 不聞爺孃喚女聲，但聞燕山胡騎聲啾啾。 萬里赴戎機，關山度若飛。 朔氣傳金柝，寒光照鐵衣。 將軍百戰死，壯士十年歸。 歸來見天子，天子坐明堂。 策勳十二轉，賞賜百千強。 可汗問所欲，「木蘭不用尚書郎。 願借明駝千里足，送兒還故鄉。」 爺孃聞女來，出郭相扶將。 阿姊聞妹來，當戶理紅妝。 小弟聞姊來，磨刀霍霍向豬羊。 開我東閣門，坐我西閣床。 脫我戰時袍，著我舊時裳。 當窗理雲鬢，對鏡貼花黃。 出門看伙伴，伙伴皆驚惶： 「同行十二年，不知木蘭是女郎」。 雄兔腳撲朔，雌兔眼迷離。 兩兔傍地走，安能辨我是雄雌？

Absolutely spot on with the story. Even following the final line about the rabbits

Loved how this narrative focused on Mulan's true intentions of joining the army: not to break the norms of how a woman born in ancient china should behave as society dictates, but simply out of love for her family 😊💚

Day 1 of me asking for an episode of extra mythology about an Arabic myth (Also yes I do not count the Zahhak, and Zal Rubadeh as Arabic Myths because I do believe they are truly Persian myths)

Mulan actually got her parent's blessing before leaving.

I love these Extra Credits. This is 100000 times better than the live action Mulan film. Keep It Up!

Thank you for the video.

Actually, she doesn't cut her hair because men traditionally had long hair back then, which they tied up with ribbon, cord, or ornaments, something the Disney version weirdly got right, which makes it doubly weird that they had her cut her hair in their version. Also, Chinese swords were double edged, not single edged like the ones depicted here.

Mulan best tomboy

“But no one questioned her gender” bold of you to assume

>"You may have heard her tale in animated form before." So we're just going to ignore the live-action remake? Aight, fine by me.

That story is beautiful. Simple, and beautiful.

1:58-2:00 I don’t want to sound like that kind of person, but that version of Mulan was made over 30 years after Walt’s death.

Subtle, well done

So happy y’all did Mulan

Someone should make tv series out of this, imagine how much episode you can makes from 12 years of military campaign

Dude I love this version 😭

I like this new content. Very much.

6:35 I saw that!!!

I have a feeling Mulan didn't take to the army life so easily as that. I mean, according to an actual Chinese person who made an extensive video on the live-action movie and all of its failings, having to work hard to get where you want to be is actually a huge thing in Chinese literature. The idea of "the special" is something kind of alien to Chinese culture, from what I gather. Not having read the actual ballad itself, I'm not sure what details it goes into, but I think it's safe to say that Mulan worked pretty hard at soldiering.

I was waiting for you to start the episode off with “let’s get down to business”😂

Just a normal villager that can ... afford armour without even consulting her family.

Mulan: anything for family *happy Dom noises*

Curiosity Stream is excellent. My mom was born in Hamburg, Germany, but her mother moved them away when she was a child. So she got to see the history of her home in greater detail than what's typically available and is now proud of the port city she has her roots in.

But Mulan had Superpowers -Disney

Here when it’s 15 mins after drop love your content guys

Be yourself and conquer the day 💪

ah im crying that was beautiful

Mulan was savage AF. Get's to ask for anything from the emperor and is just "could you call me a cab"

The original Mulan was something special

5:47 Neuron Activation

What is very interesting, is that Disney did not come up with the romance part. There is an European fairytale, very simmiliar to the legend of Mulan, in which a princess dresses up as a soldier to fight in a war in place of her sick father, the king, but the prince of the opposing army falls in love with her, ending the war. (It's a French fairytale I believe, though I can be wrong)

Great story 👍

Eh, she wasn't really the oldest. She had an older sister. The original ballad mentioned her sister putting on make-up to welcome her back.

Girlfriend reviews reference! Love that channel

Disney almost always ruins myths.

Haven’t been this early since the Roman Empire fell

Wasn't there a small red dragon with her that sounded like Eddie Murphy?

i love the and i quote "strike one walt"

Loved our non- "House of Mouse" version.

Ah the real Mulan, not the film atrocity.

FINALLY THE TRUE TALE!!!!!!!!!

万里赴戎机，关山度若飞。 Ten thousand miles she rode in war, Crossing passes and mountains as if on a wing. 朔气传金柝，寒光照铁衣。 On the northern air comes the sentry's gong, Cold light shines on her coat of steel. 将军百战死，壮士十年归。 With a hundred battles, the general has fallen. With ten years of war, all warriors can finally turn home. My favourite part of Mulan Poem.

good timing with 2 minutes ago rob

God I love Mulan

Ling, Yao, and Chein-Po would've went HUBBA-HUBBA on Mulan if Shang wasn't in the Disney movie adaptation

“Strike one Walt” The guy’s dead fam

So many references to "I'll Make A Man Out Of You"

Wow cool video

5:12 - 5:27 "The greatest GIFT and HONOR... is to have you as A DAUGHTER

My dudes... you served with her, presumably sharing a tent, for over a decade, and you never noticed?! Get your eyes checked, y'all.

I like this Mulan alot

I’ve always liked the live action Mulan: Rise of a Warrior as the best live action remake. Definitely better then Disney.

7 well spent minutes! Felt like 2. Very interesting

Wish the live action remake was this interesting. Still love the animated film and this original tale.

I like blue berries

"And so the world honoured her, by mixing teriyaki sauce with ketchup and dipping chicken nuggets in the mixture"

That's the best mulan video I ever watched better than Disney

Disney Mulan: So you're the better version of me? Original Mulan: I wouldn't say you're a cheap replica though. Disney Mulan: Niceeeeeee. So, wanna kick some ass sometime? Original Mulan: Nah, I'm good. Unless you mean beating up naughty boys. Disney Mulan: Cooool. I gotta tell Mushu that we will have tea party now. Original Mulan: Oh, my little brother will bring some dumplings to eat then.

At least we got a great training montage song from the animated movie

Yes.

Great work about 花木蘭 dudes🥰🥰 Do about 徵女王 and their terrifying Elephants too😍😍

You missed the part where she had superpowers and could never be hurt by anything

Damn... that would be a great movie scénario !

How about have a series talking about the tales “Generals of the Yang Family” ?

If Mulan ever shows up in Fate/GO I hope they use this as the basis for her history. Though given her class will probably be Saber, I wonder if she’ll be another Saber-face 😆