flower vase

                         after what felt like like interminable days of travel, no words could possibly TRIUMPH  in describing the relief that follows when their caravan reaches the   outskirts of the small and humble village. Far from sporting the EXTRAVAGANCE of the city he hails from, he can nonetheless appreciate the presence of open grassy fields and trees donning flowers that are both beautiful and unfamiliar to his eye.                              Even as the others settled their  b r i g h t l y-colored caravans amidst the expanse of one of the fields, Quasimodo can only stand and SOAK up his surroundings in awe, captive to this new land. How he longs to explore it to the fullest! If anything, if they needed help at all, it’d be on account of him not doing his share of the work in the first place ⎯⎯⎯ he is certainly DISTRACTED as he sloppily carries off his tasks and sets up the group’s tents, and even more so by the figure that approaches them from the village. If the sword on her belt and the steed she travels on means anything, he’d presume that this stranger is one of the village SOLDIERS ⎯⎯⎯ a surprise to him indeed, as women soldiers in Paris are unheard of. Could this be the norm here, he wonders? 

                             With one hand on her sword belt, he almost DREADS the possibility of them being in trouble with the guard here so soon. It certainly would not be the first time for this to occur, but he prefers to stay on people’s good sides if possible. Looks like they’ll have some explaining to do… …but oh, quite the contrary! The stranger is quick to offer their aid, and he cannot help but       S M I L E. Not many people have shown this group of travelers such kindness, not even in his own home ⎯ especially not in his own home. What were they there, but a bunch of cheats and THIEVES? Perhaps they will have better luck here. 

    —花木蘭—A soldier is quick to attack; a farm girl, however, is     quicker to smile back into the lǎowài’s face. For now, all thought     of potential threats has left her (though Mulan would be lying if      she claimed his appearance had nothing to do with it. Not that she     would claim anything. Notorious though she may be for speaking     her mind, somehow Mulan doesn’t think anybody would benefit     from it here.

    On the one hand, the stranger’s bantam stance and thick arms     remind her of Yao, and she leans towards him as towards her     friend. On the other…his pale skin would be the envy of any no-     ble lady, and his hair is as red as fresh earth…to say nothing of     his face. Mulan is put in mind of a gourd, when she was little, that     grew unbidden in their courtyard. Crowded into one corner, it was     small and bent: far from the tall shape often echoed in expensive     pottery.

    But it’s a kind face, a friendly face. Mulan’s instinct is to trust its     owner, and—often to the chagrin of her former commanding offi-     cer—she trusts her instincts, too) .

Disney developing live-action Mulan

On the heels of the magical success of Disney’s live-action Cinderella, the studio is eyeing another live-action retelling: Mulan.

Disney bought a script by writing team Elizabeth Martin and Lauren Hynek that centers on the Chinese legend of Hua Mulan, the female warrior who was the main character in Disney’s 1998 animated film.

Chris Bender and J.C. Spink (We’re the Millers) are producing the new project.

"And yet you mourn them.” She spoke smoothly, gently and without question. She knew that look in the soldier’s eyes, the one she had interrupted. Not purely fearful of the death that surrounded them, but mourning for person’s that they had not had the chance to know. Had not had the chance to save.

She made a soft, contemplative noise in the back of her throat, lips pursed into a thin, blood red line. She spent another long moment observing the boy before her– hardly a man, in more than one way. Brave, stubborn. She sensed a good heart, a kind heart, but that sort of thing was hardly well placed on a battlefield such as this.

    —花木蘭—I’m not a good soldier.

    A month ago, Ping might have said so out loud. Except, no, that     wasn’t fully true. Maybe he used to be the butt of the men’s jokes,     a loose cannon in the crude arsenal at Wu Zhong. But—modest as     Ping hoped to be about his accomplishments—that had all chang-     ed in recent weeks. As Mushu put it, he’d gone “from the runt of the     litter to top dog, girl!” (Ping understood the gist of this, but he was-     n't so sure about being compared to a dog.)

    He’d felt good then. Like he’d gotten something right. But with melt-     ing snow seeping into his shoes…the same snow that covered the     imperial army like a shroud…Ping was small, smaller than the vall-     ey that opened up at his feet, much smaller than the half-buried bod-     ies.

Haha I see well it’s a very interesting topic actually! 

1. Basically, for most of Chinese history both men and women kept long hair (so that’s 4000ish+ years). In ancient China, there was a lot of expansionism and conquest. The name ‘Middle Kingdom’ itself is a reflection of the view that China is the centre and nexus of civilisation. In that climate, the non-Han Chinese people getting conquered were regarded as uncivilised barbarians. Like, think something similar to Manifest Destiny? A lot of the cultural exceptionalism going around. For Chinese men, long, properly bound up hair was the way to go- it was associated with being civilised, cultured and other positive traits- short hair was associated with savagery and barbarism. 

(Btw women’s clothing in Mulan looks to be inspired by multiple dynasties. The hairstyle here in any case, is quite accurate)

2. In the 1600s, the Ming Dynasty was conquered by the Manchu, a non-Han people, who founded the successive Qing dynasty. They enforced the Manchu queue hair style on Han Chinese men, which consists of the half shaven head (tonsured) and a long braid like you see in this Qing-era Chinese drama. It was basically supposed to be a mark of Manchu domination and victory- Han Chinese men with the queue had therefore submitted to Manchu rule. Failure to adopt this hairstyle was considered treasonous and one could even be executed. So now, short hair or any other style deviating from the queue = a sign of dissent. Han Chinese rebels the would therefore cut off their queues as a message about their politics. 

(China has a lottttt of dramas from the imperial era, because there’s a lot of interesting material (plenty of murders, political intrigues and whatnot) and well it’s considered ideologically safe to make stuff about that era, compared to more recent…and controversial events.)

3. By the late 1800s, the defeat of the Qing dynasty in the Opium Wars and First Sino-Japanese war resulted in many humiliating concessions to other countries and China losing prestige as a regional power. Now people also saw things associated with the Qing era as antiquated and backwards. There were some attempts by more progressive members of the Qing court to reform, but the conservatives won the power struggle. When the Qing dynasty was finally overthrown in the 1911 Xinhai Revolution, most Chinese men cut off their queues- and adopted short hair. They didn’t go back to the pre-Manchu hair- now short hair was symbolic of severing ties with the Manchu and I guess a symbol of modernity, as many revolutionary leaders had spent time in Western countries.‘Western’ was associated with progress, new ideas were seen as necessary to revive China from the seeming backwardness of the Qing dynasty. So Western dress and hairstyles were adopted. And here we are today, where many Chinese men keep short hair.

(This is a photo of several members of the Revive China Society, which was meant to coordinate anti-Qing revolutionary activities.)

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