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MULAN FANS ARE are understandably perplexed and excited for the arrival of Disney's Fa Mulan on Once Upon a Time and they undoubtedly know about the poem of Hua Mulan, the inspiration behind the 1998 Disney film, but here's a little known Chinese film you may not have seen. Mulan (or Hua Mulan) is yet another adaptation of the "Ballad of Hua Mulan" the ancient Chinese Poem that tells the tale of a young woman who joins the army in her father's stead and saves China. However, it makes no apparent attempts to disguise the fact that Mulan is a woman, leading an army and fighting as of now (for me) nondescript enemy (presumably lead by a Bjork-feathered villain with paperback romance hair). I haven't seen it yet, but the movie looks gorgeous (and good to boot).

Mulan (simplified Chinese: 花木兰; traditional Chinese: 花木蘭; pinyin: Huā Mùlán) is a 2009 Chinese film starring Zhao Wei as the titular protagonist. The director, Jingle Ma, has explained that this film is vastly different from the 1998 Walt Disney animated film and adheres more to his imagination. Zhao Wei was cast by Ma as Hua Mulan over actresses Zhang Ziyi, Michelle Yeoh, and Liu Yifei, who were reportedly also considered for the role. The Russian singer Vitas also has a role in this film and helped publicize the film by providing a song titled Beneath the Glory for the film score.

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