木蘭故事的變異及傳承 - 以诗歌､ 小說､ 戲曲､ 說唱為考察範围

Abstract

This article aims at examining the theme of Mulan story from the ballad of Mulan to novels and dramas. What interested me in these genres is the ways in which image of Mulan is transformed and inherited. The Mulan legend stems from a Chinese poem, centers on a young woman who disguises herself as a man to take the place of her elderly father in the army. During a period of more than one thousand years, this story has been undergoing a series of manifestations, such as folk song, poetry, novel, drama, film and TV play. As is common with Chinese stories, it was further elaborated on as a novel during the late Ming dynasty and as a play during the Qing dynasty. In this article I will focus on four versions of the Mulan story created between the Tang and Qing periods in order to analyze how the plot came to pervade historical reconfigurations of Mulan. Among them, Xuwei’s rewriting of the Mulan legend of the Ci mulan is the most controversial. The plot of Xuwei’s play was later utilize by the Qing novelists. One of the significant inventions in the novel is Mulan’s sacrifice of the marriage for the cause of the emperor. In addition, zidishu huamulan is an oral-performance-related literary text from the late Qing dynasty compendium Tune Book of the Manor House of Lord Che (Che Wang fu qu ben). The version manages to amplify the original story as well as make a special contribution to its telling. This genealogy, brief as it is, will give us a clear sense of the folk tale’s evolution into an instrument for ideological struggles, a process in which the tale was constantly rewritten by mainstream Chinese writers to serve specific basic premises.