Traditional Chinese legend, retold in simple Mandarin
Mulan
木兰
Mulan (木兰, Mùlán) is a Chinese legend, retold in simple Mandarin as a 10-chapter story with audio for learners at about HSK 2 (Elementary).
Retold in ten chapters from the old Ballad of Mulan: a daughter takes her father's place in the army, keeps her secret through twelve winters beside a loud, loyal friend, and asks the emperor for just one reward.
Meet the voices
- Narrator · 旁白 — Tells Mulan's story the way the old ballad does — plainly, and with pride.
- Mulan · 木兰 — A weaver's daughter who is quicker with a bow than anyone suspects.
- Mulan's father · 爸爸 — An old soldier whose name is on the army list — and whose legs can no longer march.
- Captain Li · 李大哥 — A loud, loyal soldier who shares his food, his fire, and his opinions with Mulan.
- The Emperor · 皇帝 — The ruler who summons his finest general to the palace and offers any reward at all.
- Army doctor · 军医 — A brisk camp doctor who is not used to being kept out of a sick general's tent.
10 chapters, one journey
Chapter 1: A Sigh at the Loom
木兰不织布了
Mulan's loom falls silent. The army needs one man from every family, and her father is old, with weak legs. What will his daughter do?
Free to read
Chapter 2: The Black Mountains
黑山
Mulan rides north past the Yellow River to an army camp below the Black Mountains, where a very loud soldier wants to know her name.
Free to read
Chapter 3: The First Battle
第一次打仗
Mulan's first battle, out on the windy grassland. Her legs won't move, her hands won't stop shaking, and Captain Li is standing in front of her.
Free to read
Chapter 4: A Letter Home
给家里写信
A year later, under a full moon, Mulan writes a letter home. Captain Li wants to hear every word, and then he asks about her sister.
Free to read
Chapter 5: Twelve Winters
十二个冬天
Ten winters go by. On a snowy night Captain Li brings warm flatbread, and while Mulan bandages his arm, he notices something about her hands.
Free to read
Chapter 6: The Fever
花将军病了
Mulan falls ill with a burning fever, and the army doctor wants to come in and examine the general. Only one man stands in his way.
Free to read
Chapter 7: The Last Battle
最后一次打仗
The twelfth winter. Ten thousand enemies wait below a snowy pass, and General Hua has only two thousand men and one idea.
Free to read
Chapter 8: The Emperor's Reward
皇帝的礼物
The war is won, and the emperor offers General Hua high office and great riches. Mulan wants something else entirely.
Free to read
Chapter 9: The Road Home
回家
After twelve years, Mulan rides home with Captain Li beside her. Her father is waiting at the gate, and Li is about to get the surprise of his life.
Free to read
Chapter 10: Back at the Loom
木兰又织布了
Spring comes around again, and Mulan is back at her loom when a familiar loud voice calls out from the gate.
Free to read
Key words in Mulan
Behind the story
Mulan comes from the Ballad of Mulan (木兰辞), a folk song from northern China that is about 1,500 years old. Chinese students still learn it by heart at school.
Chapter 1 opens the way the ballad does: 唧唧复唧唧，木兰当户织, “click-clack, click-clack, Mulan weaves at the door.” When the war is won, she turns down every honor and asks only for a fast horse home.
Did you know?
- The ballad's last lines, about two running rabbits, gave Chinese the idiom 扑朔迷离 (pūshuò mílí), “too alike to tell apart.”
- In the ballad she serves for twelve years and her comrades never guess. That is where this book's twelve winters come from.
- The ballad never gives her a family name. A Ming-dynasty play called her Hua Mulan (花木兰), and the name stuck.