September 2020 marked the international release of Niki Caro’s Mulan, a live-action film adaptation of the famous Chinese legend of Hua Mulan (花木蘭), inspired by the  “Ballad of Mulan” (木蘭詩), which was supposedly composed during the Northern Wei dynasty (386-535) when Northern China was ruled by ethnic Xianbei (鮮卑), ancestors of the Mongols, and later compiled into a poetic anthology during the Southern Chen dynasty (557-589). In this folk song, the ventures of Hua Mulan are narrated, and describe how she posed as a man and a soldier, and replaced her aging father in the war against the invading Rouran (柔然), another nomadic group that ruled in the steppe lands of Central Asia for around two centuries.

Although the gist of the story is nothing more than an allegory of filial piety pushed to its ultimate consequences, Hua Mulan has become a household heroine of Chinese history, standing out for her bravery, sense of responsibility, and her martial prowess on the battlefield. In the collective imagination, it is difficult to find other female figures related to traditional Chinese Wushu (武術 Martial Methods) that have such relevance, but that doesn’t mean that women didn’t play important roles in the development and transmission of Chinese Wushu. Rather, due to social and cultural factors, they didn’t receive the importance they deserved, with some notable exceptions.

Socio-Cultural Aspects

Due to the patriarchal structure of traditional Chinese society, especially because of the influence of neo-Confucianism from the Song dynasty (920-1279), the social role of women was increasingly reduced to the domestic sphere. Several popular sayings highlight this situation of women in Chinese society, such as “Do not leave home and have little contact with the outside” (大門不出, 二門不邁) or “The absence of talent in women is virtuous” (女子無才便是德), and whose maximum expression is found in a tradition inherited from this dynasty – the Foot Binding (纏足). Although it can be said that these social restrictions were imposed in the upper classes of the Chinese society.

Traditional Chinese Wushu, as an expression of Chinese society and culture, is also subject to this phenomenon, since it has been considered an art in which the concept of masculinity or “Firmness of Yang Attitude” (陽剛之氣) is exclusive to men, and is opposed to the concept of the femininity or “Beauty of Yin Softness” (陰柔之美), exclusive to women. Nevertheless, although the female voice had been silenced for centuries, the presence of legendary folk warrior women, such as Hua Mulan, Hong Fu (红拂), and others, who accomplished feats of arms in the battlefields is not only pervasive in Chinese folk belief and mythology, but there are also numerous cases found in actual historical settings across the many periods of war in Chinese history.

Women in Warfare

For example, there are strictly military heroines such as Fu Hao (婦好), one of the wives of Emperor Wu Ding (武丁) in the Shang dynasty (1600-1046 BCE), who served in his armies as a General. Yang Miaozhen (楊妙真) was an important military leader, at the head of an army of ten thousand outlaws during the Song dynasty. In the Ming dynasty (1368-1644), most notably are Tang Sai'er (唐賽兒), a revolutionary leader of the White Lotus Society (白蓮敎), who gathered a rebel army against the Imperial government, defeating various Imperial officials and becoming a folk heroine. And Qin Liangyu (秦良玉), an official of the imperial court, who stood out for serving as General of the Ming armies in the 17th century and also for her advocacy of the rights of women and the demand for gender equality in the patriarchal and hierarchical Chinese civil service system.

Now, in the realm of women’s martial skills used for warfare, one of the best-known examples is the Maiden of Yue or Yue Nu (越女), a famous swordswoman from the State of Yue (496-465 BC). Since early age, she learned the arts of archery and fencing from her military father. Her skill in the use of the sword achieved such renown that the King of Yue invited her for a demonstration and later appointed her to instruct the officers of his army. Her theories about the art of fencing have been collected in texts such as “The Annals of Springs and Autumn of Wu and Yue” (吳越春秋) from the Eastern Han dynasty 25-220 AD), and its influence on traditional Chinese Wushu theories is undeniable, despite the mythical overtones surrounding her figure.

Another great figure was Lady Washi (瓦氏夫人), a noblewoman of the ethnic Zhuang (壯), located mainly in the province of Guangxi and characterized by training women in the art of war. In 1553, the so-called “Japanese Pirates” or Wokou (倭寇) intensified their raids on the southeastern coast of China. Ming Emperor Shizong (世宗) appointed Lady Washi, already known for her martial skills, as a regional commander in support of the famous General Yu Daoyu (俞大猷). Her military success was remarkable and her “Mandarin Duck Saber Techniques” (鴛鴦刀法) were praised by many accounts such as the “Song of the Double Sabers” (雙刀歌), the military work “Records of the Assistant” (手臂錄), or the “Ballad to Hua Wa” (花瓦謠). The influence of Lady Washi was so important that her training methods of Zhuang Boxing (壯拳) were later adopted by generals from Northern China.

Women in Traditional Wushu

According to the efforts of the “Wushu Excavation and Reorganization Group” (武術挖掘整理小組), established by China’s State Sports Commission in the early 80s, a total of 131 traditional schools of martial arts were identified as having an orderly origin, clear boxing theories, distinctive style, and being a self-contained system. Yet, once again, the phenomenon of male dominance is clearly manifested becausethere is very little mention of women as important members, ancestors, or inheritors in any capacity, except for a very small group of relatively contemporaneous and geographically adjacent Southern Shaolin factions, at least as far as their origination mythology is concerned. Below are three of them, citing their oral traditions:

Wu Mei Boxing (五梅拳)

This style was created by the nun and abbessWu Mei (五梅師太, also written as 五枚師太), during the Daoguang Period of the Qing dynasty (1782-1850), extending from Fujian to Guangdong. It is also known as “Eight Method Plum Blossom Post Boxing” (梅花樁八法拳) but should not be confused with other “Plum Blossom Boxing” styles from Northern China.  

White Crane Boxing of Yongchun (永春白鶴拳)

Created bythe female martial artist Fang Qiniang (方七娘) in Fujian during the Kangxi Period of the Qing dynasty (1662-1722), this style is based on the combination of Shaolin boxing that she learned from her father Fang Zhong (方種) with techniques inspired by the movements she observed in white cranes.

Yongchun Boxing (詠春拳)

More commonly known by its Cantonese name Wing Chun, this world-renowned style also has its origins in a woman, Yan Yongchun (嚴詠春), who during the Jiaqing Period of the Qing dynasty (1796-1820) learned a selection of Shaolin boxing techniques compiled by the nun Wu Mei in Fujian,inspired by the actions she hadpreviously observed during the fight between a crane and a snake.

Besides these interesting mentions, there is an ‘official’ style called Mulan Boxing (木蘭拳). The origins of this practice only started in the 70s, when a folk master allegedly of the Kongtong Sect of Flowery Boxing (崆峒派花架拳) in Shanghai, Yang Wendi (楊文娣), compiled together a series of graceful and feminine movements from health preservation exercises, Wushu basics, and stage performance elements, together with music; known then as Mulan Flowery Boxing (木蘭花架拳). During the following decades, a direct student of his, Ying Meifeng (應美鳳), finally created a set of standard routines of Mulan Boxing, including bare hand, single and double fan, and single and double straight sword, which were accepted by the China State Sports Commission in 1995. Consequently, and although it was inspired by the legendary heroine, Mulan Boxing is not considered to be a traditional style of Wushu.

Women in Modern Society

The role of Chinese women in the fields of warfare and martial arts, far from being something purely anecdotal or only found in literature or other art forms, is a verifiable reality that has influenced the development of traditional Chinese Wushu throughout all its history. Perhaps the biggest problem is not the participation of women in the military or martial spheres per se, but the complete lack of relevance and coverage received within Chinese historiography, which only reflects the deep-seated prevalence of male dominance in traditional Chinese society and culture.

But then again, silencing their voice should not become a synonym for absence - quite the opposite. In modern societies where women acquire an increasingly relevant role based primarily on their own merits, which is a necessary foundation for a fairer, peaceful, and more sustainable society at large, it is necessary to be able to step back and acknowledge their importance in such fields that were limited to men, such as warfare and martial arts. Mulan could represent a small step, important nonetheless, but there is much more beyond Hua Mulan.