It is no secret that Hollywood practices self-censorship because it wants to get a slice of the Chinese market. But still, having read many spoiler-laden reviews on the film, I am shocked by the lengths to which the film Mulan goes to please the Chinese government. This film is in effect a big propaganda project aligned with Xi Jinping’s patriarchal Chinese dream. It is no coincidence that the film’s leading actress Liu Yifei, who has been thrown into the media limelight, supports Hong Kong police, and that in the credits of the movie, Disney thanked the Publicity Department of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in Xinjiang and the Public Security Bureau in Turpan.

The film poster released by China Central Television (CCTV) carries only three words, “loyalty, courage and truthfulness”. In the film, the three words are inscribed on the sword passed down through generations of Mulan’s family. The words actually constitute the core idea of the film. Film reviews published by China’s online media, strictly controlled by the country’s propaganda authorities, made a fuss about the meaning of the three words. In practice, they are not film reviews but a guidance issued by Xi on so-called women’s work in China.

Back in 2013, when the world was full of hope for the new Chinese government headed by Xi and Premier Li Keqiang, rumor had it that Xi warned the CCP to remember the lesson from the Soviet Union, saying that “not a single man” was able to rescue the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. At the time, I wrote an article pointing out Xi’s lack of awareness of feminism and that his leadership would mark the return of patriarchy and hence the reinforcement of despotism. As it was, it did not take long for Xi to take charge of women’s work in China, for which his core statement was “to bring into play women’s unique role in promoting the family virtues of the Chinese nation and establishing a good family tradition”.

Guided by that instruction, the Chinese media set off to launch a vigorous campaign to promote filial piety. The CCTV Spring Festival Gala in 2015 pushed the propaganda to a staggering height, with Hong Kong singer Karen Mok singing the song When You Are Old, adapted from a classic love poem. The background image on stage slowly changed from that of a pair of lovers to a family including grandchildren and grandparents.

The patriarchal Chinese dream is the perfect solution to the dilemma highlighted in the Chinese idiom, “loyalty and filial piety can hardly co-exist”. A promo broadcast by CCTV in 2016, entitled “How to be filial”, put forward the concept of “filial piety”. It noted that “serving one’s parents is the beginning of filial piety; being loyal to one’s duty and serving the country is the elevation of filial piety and a greater form of filial piety”. That was “loyalty”. The film also pointed out that “we should do whatever the country asks us to do”. That was “bravery”.

The ancient Chinese poem Mulan plays up the heroic image of Mulan, who disguised herself as a man so as to serve in the army for her father. In the poem, filial piety is not the main point, and there is no such thing as loyalty to the country. The lines “Last night she saw the military notice; the emperor was mobilizing a great army” are actually a complaint about the brutality of the ruler obsessed with warfare. The lines “The emperor asked Mulan what she desired; Mulan replied that she needed not the title of a high official; she only wished for a horse ample enough to gallop a thousand miles; so that the son [Mulan] could be sent back home”, suggest Mulan did not want to continue serving the country after completing the forced combat mission.

However, the movie Mulan harps on the theme of filial piety and seamlessly incorporates the concept of being filial to the country, as highlighted in the CCTV promo. The concept is even played up in the film trailer, which shows Mulan’s father telling her that the phoenix, who is beautiful and intelligent, is by the side of the emperor and is his guardian. In the film, Mulan says “my duty is to defend the emperor”, and the emperor tells her to “defend the country and the people”. That comes straight from the CCP propaganda statement that “the leader represents the party and the party represents the country and the people”.

What is even more terrible is that while in the ancient poem, Mulan left the army and became a farmer because she had no interest in fame or money, the film casts Mulan’s humble decision as her way of atonement. In an interview with New York Times, Lan Dong, an expert in Mulan, noted that there is a heroine in every age. The narrative on Mulan in contemporary China, however, is that the heroine “caused a lot of harm to her family” by disguising herself as a man, and “fortunately” she had the “good intention” of serving the country. “As long as she can restore her normal status as a daughter and a wife, she will be forgiven.” Therefore, in the film Mulan turns down the chance to be part of the royal guard and chooses to go home and admit her mistake.

On February 17, 2016, when the CCP Central Committee and the State Council held a Chinese New Year gathering at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Xi delivered a speech, which was later summed up by the Chinese media as a speech that emphasized the importance of family and family education. Afterwards, women’s virtues in traditional Chinese society, along with the idea of women staying home to take care of their husband and children, were played up. Although Mulan in the film has outstanding martial arts skills, she does not compete for fame and fortune with men but returns home to fulfill her “duties as a woman”. Such is a real role model in the Xi Jinping era.

If there are any remnants of feminist ideas in the movie, they are merely accessories of Xi’s patriarchal Chinese dream. Last Friday, 19 U.S. congressmen from both parties wrote a letter to Disney CEO Bob Charpek, asking Disney to explain the relations between the Mulan project and the propaganda authorities and public security organ in Xinjiang. But obviously that is not enough. Given that Mulan’s theme echoes Xi’s patriarchal Chinese dream, Disney ought to explain whether the theme was set under the instruction of the CCP or it was Disney that took the initiative to please the CCP.

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