While "Mulan" is only loosely based on the mythical tale of Hua Mulan, China's official Xinhua news agency said she was too "foreign-looking" in her Disney incarnation and "her complexion, disposition, and manner of behaviour were different from an [authentic] Chinese character," the BBC reported in 1999.
Why was the animated Mulan movie not well received in China? It was a combination of factors, which can be summed up to three points: collateral damage for Kundun, the limited release, and the foreign-looking story.
USC professor Stanley Rosen said the character was seen as trivializing Chinese culture by Chinese moviegoers. "Mushu was very popular in the U.S., but the Chinese hated it," they said. "This kind of miniature dragon trivialized their culture."
The film also drew ire for filming in Xinjiang, a region of China where Uighur Muslims have been detained in mass internment camps. The film has also been accused of being too white behind the camera.
Though the director shared that Mushu was removed to allow Mulan to better enhance her relationships with her fellow soldiers, his absence may have also been more about not offending viewers, who found Mushu to be insensitive in the 1998 animated feature.
EVERYTHING CULTURALLY RIGHT AND WRONG WITH MULAN 1998
Why was Li Shang removed from Mulan?
Some speculated that the filmmakers were trying to downplay the homoerotic undertones of the relationship between Shang and the disguised Mulan. In reality, the filmmakers claimed that they were influenced by the #MeToo Movement, finding it inappropriate for Mulan's love interest to be her commanding officer.
If any of you watched Mulan 2, for exapmle buying it on DVD, Mushu turns evil after losing his pedastol, so he tries to tear apart Mulan and Shang, which worked.
The film is speckled with minor historical infractions. For instance, the Chinese characters Mulan writes on her arm at the beginning of the film are a form of writing which didn't exist in the fifth century, the time period in which “Mulan” takes place.
Disney failed to do enough research on non-Western elements and stories. That led to many silly mistakes in the movie," he said. Analysts find that Disney's dilemma is that it thought it could make a film that would be well received by the US, China and global audiences.
China blocked the release of Disney's animated “Mulan” for eight months in the late 1990s after the company backed Martin Scorsese's “Kundun,” a film seen as sympathetic to the Dalai Lama. The animated “Mulan” bombed in China as a result.
While "Mulan" is only loosely based on the mythical tale of Hua Mulan, China's official Xinhua news agency said she was too "foreign-looking" in her Disney incarnation and "her complexion, disposition, and manner of behaviour were different from an [authentic] Chinese character," the BBC reported in 1999.
The boycott stems from actress Liu Yifei's public support of the Hong Kong police. Liu first revealed her support for the police during Hong Kong's pro-democracy and anti-police brutality protests in 2019. The film faced more backlash for filming in Xinjiang, a Chinese region where Uyghur are reportedly being detained.
According to the novel, Mulan's feet were bound when she was very young because men considered small feet to be a sign of beauty. (By the way, this was an inaccuracy in the novel—the Chinese didn't start binding girls' feet until after Mulan's time.)
Chinese critics, both at home and abroad, said they were disappointed with the film's inaccurate and stereotypical portrayals of Chinese history and the main character, infused with nationalist tropes. Others were not as bothered.
Disney's live-action remake of Mulan might be closer to the poem it's based on, but it's very different from the 1998 Disney animated classic. While both movies tell Mulan's story as she impersonates a man to join the Imperial Army, the 1998 film was an animated, musical comedy packed with jokes and memorable songs.
A clause in Eddie Murphy's contract for doing Shrek 2 (2004) forbade him from reprising the role of Mushu in this film, therefore having his other voice actor Mark Moseley (a man best known for filling in for Murphy's characters like Mushu and Donkey in their TV and Video Game appearances) fill in for this film.
In 1998's Mulan, Imperial China is invaded by Shan Yu and his Elite Hun army - who are based in part on Genghis Khan and the Mongol empire and also on Attila the Hun - and Mulan is forced to join up in the place of her aging father, disguising herself as a man to allow her conscription.
Throughout the narrative, Honghui is unaware that Mulan is a female. Honghui, unaware that Mulan is a girl, inquires about her ideal woman. Mulan says that her ideal lady is bold, has a nice sense of humor, and is intelligent. Mulan confessed her true identity after coming home.
Shang turns up alive and meets up with Yao, Ling, Chien-Po and the princesses, and heads to Qui Gong. Shang interrupts the wedding and admits that Mulan was right about following her heart.
It turns out that the traditional Chinese audience did not particularly think that was the best interpretation of the dragon in their culture. That the dragon is a sign of respect, and of strength and power, and sort of using it as a silly sidekick did not play well with a traditional Chinese audience.”
He was a war hero of a previous, unnamed conflict, as well as was known to the extent that Shang mentioned his name with awe when it appeared on Fa family's conscription notice, even referring to him as "THE Fa Zhou." At the time of the film, he is at an advanced age, as well as limps using a crutch due to a leg injury ...
As you might suspect, the reasonings for removing Mushu very much hinged on the fact that this version of Mulan was attempting to be more realistic (after all, it is a live-action movie!).
Mulan is a fictional folk heroine from the Northern and Southern dynasties era (4th to 6th century AD) of Chinese history. According to the legend, Mulan takes her aged father's place in the conscription for the army by disguising herself as a man.
Unfortunately for fans of this princess, Mulan II did terribly. Critics regarded the film as a huge disrespect to the original Mulan. This discouraged Disney from pursuing her story any further, so Mulan III was shelved and Ana Ming never made it anywhere.
