By James Millward
"Mulan is not originally a story about a patriotic Chinese woman. It is not a story about self-sacrifice to defend one’s country. It is not a thrilling tale of martial valor. It is, rather, a commentary on the fruitlessness of war against people who are more like oneself than different, delivered in the voice of a woman who does her familial duty out of necessity and then chucks her medals and goes home—a war-weary expression of truth to power. "
[I don't quite understand what the author means by the Tabghach state giving its name to China. Does he refer to the literal meaning of "中原" as the middle realm? Or the fact that the Tabghach was taken to represent all the peoples on what is now the Chinese land?]
"Mulan is not originally a story about a patriotic Chinese woman. It is not a story about self-sacrifice to defend one’s country. It is not a thrilling tale of martial valor. It is, rather, a commentary on the fruitlessness of war against people who are more like oneself than different, delivered in the voice of a woman who does her familial duty out of necessity and then chucks her medals and goes home—a war-weary expression of truth to power. "
[I don't quite understand what the author means by the Tabghach state giving its name to China. Does he refer to the literal meaning of "中原" as the middle realm? Or the fact that the Tabghach was taken to represent all the peoples on what is now the Chinese land?]