One female heroine
Hua, Mu-Lan (or Mulan)
China's most famous woman warrior lived and fought in the fifth
century AD. Her father was conscripted to go to war, but he was too
sick to fight, so Hua Mu-Lan offered to go in his place. Her father
rejected the offer, but she insisted. She suggested they have a
sword fight and if she won, she'd go. Mu-Lan won the fight.
She cut her hair, put on her father's armor and joined the
emperor's troops using her father's name. For over ten years, she
fought as a man without her true identity being discovered. Her
bravery at the front lines and extraordinary fighting skill so
impressed her general that he offered this soldier his daughter's
hand in marriage. Somehow, the marriage never took place and Mu-Lan
returned home and became herself again. A play written in her
honor, the Mu-Lan Play ends with the following lines:
She had much fighting ability, and could act the leader. Her body
passed through one hundred battles, always at the front, and
compared to the fiercest soldiers, she was still better.
