#chen honghui

What if swords in Mulan 2020 had actual Chinese sayings instead of “loyal, brave, true” as engravings. 

1. Hua Mulan:

日久见人心 (rì jiǔ jiàn rén xīn)

This is actually just the second half of the proverb "路遥知马力，日久见人心", which translates to “distance tests a horse’s strength, time reveals a person’s character”. I’m only taking the second half for simplicity’s sake. Besides, 日久见人心 on its own manages to cover the meaning & intention behind the whole saying in my opinion. 

日久见人心 (“time reveals one’s heart”) beautifully encompasses Mulan’s story of disguising as a man in place of her father to go to war solely out of love for her father, all while proving her capabilities along the way and coming to slowly accept & embrace her truest expression of her self, making this saying more than worthy to be engraved onto Mulan's new sword.

2. Hua Zhou:

逆境出人才 (nì jìng chū rén cái)

逆境出人才 has the meaning of “adversary breeds talent/flair”. This saying could reflect in some way Hua Zhou’s adamant attitude when faced with life’s situations/decisions, e.g. insisting he must serve the army even though he’s frail & had done his part before. (I like to speculate his stubborn determination was the reason he managed to accomplish much & got far as a soldier during his prime, therefore earning his sword engravings and becoming highly-regarded in the military.)

However, I chose this proverb not as much because I think it would be suitable for Hua Zhou’s character, but rather for how it will affect Mulan’s journey in her training to become a soldier when she took her father’s sword to war. (It’s the sword with the most screen time, by the way.) The engravings would serve as a reminder as well as an encouragement for her to strive to be the best warrior she could be. 

As Mulan develops as a person, the old "逆境出人才" nicely transitions into the new "日久见人心" in poetic fashion. Plus, both would go along neatly with the “pattern” of five-character sword engravings running through the Hua family, in this case. 

3. Commander Tung:

否极泰来 (pǐ jí tài lái)

For Commander Tung, 否极泰来 (meaning “peace comes after extreme evil”) would sound really cool & badass for a general like him (one who’s played by Donnie Yen no less) to the point where I feel like he would totally own it on the battlefield without a question. 

4. Sergeant Qiang:

惩前毖后 (chéng qián bì hòu)

Remember that second-in-command who’s strict and uptight about Mulan & her comrades’ performance and was given the “we’ll make a man out of every single one of you” line? I did. 

惩前毖后 (literally “punish first, prevent later”) has the meaning of criticizing or learning from past mistakes to avoid future ones and preventing them from happening again. Very fitting for Sergeant Qiang’s personality, and it gives extra insight into why he acted so strictly towards the new recruits. 

5. The Emperor:

尽忠报国 (jìn zhōng bào guó)

You may recognize this saying because it was popularized by Chinese folk hero & semi-historical figure Yue Fei (similar to Mulan). As you can tell, 尽忠报国 has everything to do with “loyal devotion to your country”. 

While such an engraving is befitting of an emperor’s sword, I think it would be hilarious seeing the other main characters having sword engravings that have their own poetic/badass meanings whereas the Emperor’s is probably the most basic shit you could put on a sword. 

6. Chen Honghui:

知音难觅 (zhī yīn nán mì)

Considering Chen Honghui’s role in Mulan’s journey, I think 知音难觅 would make a unique sword engraving for him since this idiom is one that’s about friendship.

The idiom means “an intimate friend is hard to find”, and seeing that Honghui had been nothing but an ally of Mulan through and through, there’s no other saying best encompassing his character. Since he’s staying in the military, I like to believe he would go on to become a leader that’s known to be supportive, encouraging & even caring not only to his peers but also his juniors as well. 

1.  “The Chi is strong with this one.” 

Disney has been making the same movie over and over for the past two years.

2. “They’ll call her a witch!”

The correct response to that should be “What is a wiTcH? Some white people nonsense that won’t even be introduced into our language for centuries to come?”

Of course because Europe used to prosecute women for no reason, they assumed ancient china must have done the same.

3. The two rabbits scene is a nice addition. It is taken from the original ballad, where she stayed in the army for 12 years without being found as a woman.

4. It has been many years since I learned the ballad of mulan in school, still I think the draft system is a terrible one. Demanding one man from each family is a giant waste of potential young and healthy conscriptors.

5. The words on the sword are modern chinese characters, and I’m sure you can find the font in microsoft default.

6. The concept of “孝”(devotion to family) has oppressed women and men for thousands of years in China. It advocates blind obedience to your parents even in adulthood, and that you should live your life exactly as your parents wish because they know better. I cannot believe a movie in 2020 is digging up this word form the grave.

7. “This is my sad face. This is my curious face.” 

Girl you have burned yourself. Liu Yifei can act, but she doesn’t seem to be doing it for this movie. She later has the same face while fighting, flirting, and having someone die in her arms.

8. Cricket is so precious! He is perfection everytime he is on screen. Also all the men in the army seem to be experiencing a collective gay panick. 

9. Were those mulan flowers where she took a bath in the lake?

10. I like that she took the gender reveal into her own hands. “You will not reach your full potential until you live as you are.” It’s just one lesbien convincing another to come out.

But in the next moment she took off the armor that protects her main arteries. And put down her hair even it might block her vision in fighting.

11. At least a dozen people died from the fireball thing, and they only thought to check Hua Jun after the avalanche. They truely love her him her.

12. The red room Reylo scene but with Xian Lang: “ Join me. We will take our place in the kingdom.” “There’s still hope for you.” “No, it’s too late for me.”

Disney really has been making the same movie for the past two years.

13. This cast is full of lengendary action stars but the fight scenes are quite underwhelming. She can kick everything I guess. Even an arrow. Okay.

14. All supervillains can benefit from Aaron Burr’s advice. Just talk less and murder people already. Most of them would have won a hundred time easily.

15. You see Xian Lang’s change of heart from miles away but still AAAAAHHHHHHasfdjaowoiwhf! The gay is brimming out of my screen.

16. Finally, finally, FINALLY someone else dies in Liu Yifei’s arms for a change. If you are familiar with her early career you know what I’m talking about. Also they are gonna be ride-and-die lesbien lovers in my fanfic.

17. MY QUEEN Wen Ming-Na!!

18. “Rise up like a Phoenix.” from Mulan: The Real Dark Phoenix (2020)

Disney has been making the same movie, and we’ve been watching them for the past two years.

19. She rode from the imperial city to her hometown Fujian like it was easy breezy. Even her hair still had the same curls. All the soldiers also travelled right behind her just to give her a sword.

It is a frigging 2000 miles journey.

They didn’t go like, “hey you want to hang out here until we make the sword so we don’t have to ride across the country?” Also they didn’t catch up with her the entire way, only to make an entrance in front of the whole apartment building.

20. Forgot to mention the matchmaker’s actor Zheng Peipei. She played Yifei’s grandmother many years ago in a tv show. Yifei was still a teenager back then, and her character notoriously died at the end very abruptly (setting a tone for her following career). The show is a period fantacy drama that is mostly there to spite flat-earthers. 

21. If I hear the words “Loyal, brave and true” one more time I swear to god

22. The end credit design is kind of awsome.

My view on this movie is mostly critical for many more reasons. They claim to have done justice to chinese culture but it is still a very poor job. Chi is to kongfu as quantum is to sci-fi, just throw the word in when you can’t explain something. 

Mulan lives in a Fujian tulou building not because they have done research about the geography, but because it is a random thing in china hollywood hasn’t shot before. 

Characters: Chen Honghui and Hua Mulan / Hua Jun

Media: Mulan (2020)

Played by: Yoson An and Yifei Liu

Setting: AD 600s, China

Chen Honghui Headers

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