【木蘭皮影戲】
For you, a lamp stays lit.
Your quiet years of ease — who is it that carries them…
【MULAN】National ICH · 2008, no. Ⅰ-50Published by the State Council on 7 June 2008 in the second batch of the national intangible cultural heritage list — entry 537, code Ⅰ-50, category "Folk Literature"
【CHINESE SHADOW PUPPETRY】Humanity's ICH · 2011Inscribed on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by the UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee at its 6th session (Bali, Indonesia) on 27 November 2011 — nomination file No.00421
壹Act I · Departure · 少年與山
Eighteen — the departure
"Ji ji fu ji ji" — to the sound of the loom, she read through all twelve scrolls of war. A daughter raised by the mountain, she knew from which direction the wind came, and knew too the small courage inside her that would not go out.
Some roads, someone must walk. Before first light she took leave of her parents and set out in her father's place — leaving her sighs beside the loom, her silhouette to the mountain.
貳Act II · The Journey · 世界
Seeing the world
A white shadow-puppet screen, a Peking-opera stage, a passage of Henan opera, a cinema screen — every era, every language has taken her story and carried it forward.
She set out from a folk song of little more than three hundred characters and walked a thousand years, into the gaze of the world. Courage has no homeland; the ready shoulder is understood everywhere.
參Act III · The Return · 一杯茶
Thirty — the return
"The Khan asks what she desires; Mulan asks for no minister's rank" — the minister's rank she declines; the thousand-li horse was all she asked. Homecoming was written into her journey on the day it began.
I open the door of the east chamber; I sit upon the couch of the west. From the farthest marches of war back to the nearest lamplight — the deepest strength lives, from then on, in the quietest everyday things. In a cup of tea, for instance.
肆Act IV · The House · 木蘭茶故事
Grown into a world
We never invented her — we only joined the long line of those who have told her story for fifteen hundred years: with the lamp of a shadow play, with a phrase of opera, with a cup of tea.
MULAN TEA STORY® 木蘭茶故事, born in Hangzhou, begins with a cup of tea and tells her story to the present day, tells it to the world — letting a courage a thousand years old grow into the values of today.
十八歲出發，三十歲歸來DEPART AT EIGHTEEN · RETURN AT THIRTY
The Heritage · 千年回聲
Fifteen hundred years,
one Mulan, told by the world.
From the courage to ride to war in her father's place, to the resolve of guarding home, the legend of Mulan has crossed a thousand years and is told around the world. She is not only a cultural heroine of China — she is a universal emblem of courage, love of family, duty and the strength of women.
From the ageless singing of the Ballad of Mulan, through shadow play, Peking opera and Yu opera retold by generation after generation, to literature and film carried across the globe. Across eras, languages and borders, the spirit of Mulan keeps shining.
Rooted in China, felt across the world; a thousand years of telling, a spirit that endures.
- MulanNational ICH · 2008, no. Ⅰ-50Published by the State Council on 7 June 2008 in the second batch of the national intangible cultural heritage list — entry 537, code Ⅰ-50, category "Folk Literature"
- Chinese Shadow PuppetryHumanity's ICH · 2011Inscribed on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by the UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee at its 6th session (Bali, Indonesia) on 27 November 2011 — nomination file No.00421
- Peking OperaHumanity's ICH · 2010Inscribed on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by the UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee at its 5th session (Nairobi, Kenya) on 16 November 2010 — nomination file No.00418
- Yu OperaNational ICH · 2006, no. Ⅳ-23Published by the State Council on 20 May 2006 in the first batch of the national intangible cultural heritage list — entry 167, code Ⅳ-23, category "Traditional Theatre"
1500+
years · told and sung
Ⅰ-50
national ICH number
2
human-ICH art forms staging her
3
places named after her
-
Northern Dynasties · Ballad
木蘭辭®
A word mark, taken from the title of the poem — the Ballad of Mulan The Ballad of Mulan
Source of folk literature paired with the Peacocks Southeast Fly — the "twin jewels of yuefu"
"Ji ji fu ji ji, Mulan weaves at the door." A Northern-Dynasties folk song of just over three hundred characters gave her a name, yet wrote down no surname — a silence every era since has answered in its own way. Generations of children have met her in their textbooks and learned her by heart — and so the story has lived for a thousand years, never finished being told.
Today she is a line of poetry — and a word mark: 【MULAN CI】.
-
Ming · Drama
A figurative mark, from the form of the old paintings of her riding to war for her father — 【RONGMA MULAN】 The Female Mulan Joins the Army for Her Father
Xu Wei, Four Cries of a Gibbon the literary source of the surname "Hua"
The surname "Hua" begins with this play. In Xu Wei's Four Cries of a Gibbon, the scene The Female Mulan Joins the Army for Her Father gave her a surname for the first time — the writers gave her a name, the painters through the ages gave her a face, and the world has called her Hua Mulan ever since.
Today she is a play — and a figurative mark: 【RONGMA MULAN】.
-
Lamplight · Shadow Play
A figurative mark, its form taken from the shadow-play imagery — patterns shared with costume and props The Shadow Play Hua Mulan
Humanity's ICH · 2011 Chinese shadow puppetry inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List
A white screen and a lamp. A craft begun in the Western Han and in flower by the Song, it had already travelled to Western Asia and Europe by the Yuan dynasty — later ages called it "the earliest cinema". Carved-leather figures leap to the beat of gongs and drums, and the story of a daughter who went to war for her father walked into the nights of rural China. The Mulan staged by village troupes everywhere is her most familiar self.
Today the world tells her story — and she is fixed as a word mark: 【MULAN DOT】.
-
Stage · Peking Opera
A figurative mark, from the hero's charge at the head of ten thousand horsemen — 【MULAN GALLOPING】 Mulan Joins the Army
Humanity's ICH · 2010 Peking opera inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List
In 1912 Mei Lanfang and Qi Rushan wrote this play together — twenty-nine scenes, with Mei singing the dan and also playing the young male lead in reverse. The sources were not settled, so no surname was added to Mulan: the play is simply called Mulan Joins the Army. Never write what you cannot stand behind — the discipline of that craft and the honesty we bring to tea are the same temperament. From Peking opera to every regional stage, Mulan has never taken her final bow: by 1927 on a Hong Kong stage, a male dan was already playing her.
Today she is one gallop — and a figurative mark: 【MULAN GALLOPING】.
-
1951 · Yu Opera
木蘭序®
A word mark, from the Ballad of Mulan and the recorded name "Mulan Xu" Hua Mulan
National ICH · 2006 Yu opera entered in the first batch of the national list (no. Ⅳ-23)
Chang Xiangyu's signature play. One aria — "Brother Liu speaks unfairly" — turned "Who says women live at ease" into a national memory. From 1951 she toured with her troupe in benefit performances, donating a fighter jet named the "Xiangyu Drama Society"; in 1956 Changchun Film Studio made it a film of the stage — and her story became, for the first time, a whole country's echo.
Today she is a play — and a copyright: the historical novel 【MULAN XU】.
-
Screen · The World
A portrait figurative mark, used for shadow-play figures and portraits in Peking opera — 【MULAN PORTRAIT】, from the ICH work "The Legend of Mulan" From Shanghai to Hollywood
1939 · 1964 · 1998 · 2020 Chen Yunshang · Huangmei opera · Disney animation · live action
In 1939 Chen Yunshang's Mulan Joins the Army was the first onto the screen; 1964, the Huangmei-opera film; 1998, Disney's animation; 2020, the live-action film. Long before that, her story had already crossed to Japan — every era and every language has seen itself in her.
Today she is a face — and a figurative mark: 【MULAN PORTRAIT】.
-
Today · A Cup of Tea
The letter mark MULAN TEA STORY — the old tea houses of Mulan tea around the world MULAN TEA STORY®
We join the line telling her the way our own era can
Before writing any script, we first brew a cup of tea. Objects, spaces, music and an interactive AI drama — all extensions of this cup. Fifteen hundred years on, she is still being told. The newest chapter of that telling is in the Mulan Theatre.
Today she has a name the world can say — the international letter mark 【MULANTEASTORY】.
NEW SHADOW PLAY · 新皮影戲
The New Shadow Play, Restaged
SIXTEEN FRAMES OF THE TRADITIONAL MULAN SHADOW PLAY
Frame 01CH08-B
Frame 02CH08-C
Frame 03CH14-A
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Frame 05CH20-A
Frame 06CH21-C
Frame 07CH27-C
Frame 08CH30-C
Frame 09CH32-A
Frame 10CH32-C
Frame 11CH33-A
Frame 12CH33-C
Frame 13CH36-C
Frame 14CH47-B
Frame 15CH48-A
Frame 16CH50-C
THE PLACES · 地方記憶
Yucheng, Henan · the Mulan Temple at Yingkuo — the temple holds a Yuan-dynasty stele of 1334, the second year of Yuantong, with over three thousand characters recording her life; Yucheng is named "Home of Mulan in China" by the China Folk Literature and Art Association.
Huangpi, Hubei · Mulan Mountain, Mulan Lake and Mulan Heaven-Pool — landscapes that carry her name.
Yan'an, Shaanxi · Wanhua Mountain — another land where her legend is told.
The histories never recorded her birthplace, so each region keeps its own telling — and the ICH listing of the "Legend of Mulan" was filed jointly by Huangpi, Hubei and Yucheng, Henan.
From one figure,
to a whole world.
One figure. One world.
Mulan
is not a character.
We chose Mulan not because she belongs to the past, but because she belongs to today.
She knows where she comes from, and dares to go farther. Courage need not be loud. Strength need not strike.
She walked the world, and stayed true to herself.
A JOURNEY.
A RETURN.
To set out is courage. To return, also.
WHY TEA · 為什麼從茶開始
Through tea,
we learn time.
A leaf begins in soil and season, passes through judgment, craft and fire, and settles quietly into a cup.
Tea does not need to prove itself loudly. Mountain, rain, light and human patience are held in one clear cup. So we begin with tea — the way Mulan first met the world.
The Mulan Theatre · 木蘭劇場
One Mulan,
three ways of telling.
Film, an interactive AI drama, a music-created audio series — her story deserves to be told again and again; every telling leads to the same her.
Act I · Film · The Film
MULAN TEA STORY · The Film
Her story will one day be told in light and shadow — from the sound of the loom to a thousand horses, from a daughter to her return. The screenplay is in preparation, told the way the brand tells everything: strength, without attack.
In preparation.
Act II · Series · Interactive AI Drama
Mulan Xu · AI Theatre
「Play Hua Mulan once, and understand yourself once.」
Adapted from the 38-chapter original novel Mulan Xu — you enter the role and become Hua Mulan. From a night call-up scroll in Northern Wei to the homeward road through beacon fire: immersive story decisions that rewrite your fate. MBTI asks how you think; astrology asks when you were born; Mulan Xu watches what you do — 151 choices that reveal your personality and the pattern of your relationships.
5
epic acts
151
choice points
7
AI companions
5
endings
Act III · Music-Created Audio Drama
Sun and Moon in a Pot · Twelve Songs of Mulan
「Mulan's strength steeps open in a pot of tea.」
A Zen, Chinese-styled audio series: about eight minutes an episode — story telling, creative notes and one complete original song. Narration, lyrics, music and voice are all original, produced to HiFi standard. Twelve episodes for twelve songs, running qi-cheng-zhuan-he — the classic four-part arc — through her life: a daughter, the passes, the return, the true self.
I · Qi · A Daughter
- 01
Rivers and Mountains in the Mirror
Years away from marriage: red bridal make-up in the mirror, mountains and rivers beyond it
- 02
Words on the Path
Break a branch of spring willow, fold your hometown into your sleeve
II · Cheng · The Passes
- 03
Twelve Scrolls
Scroll after scroll of conscription — a spine that will not bend
- 04
Frost on Iron Armour
The armour is cold, the heart is not; the heavier the frost, the heavier the will
- 05
A Lamp in the Tent
In a field tent, one lamp keeps the hometown lit inside
III · Zhuan · The Return
- 06
Armour Off, Tea On
Iron armour set down, an old tea set to boil
- 07
Swallows Under the Eaves
The swallows return to the eaves; the traveller returns to the lamp
- 08
Tea Gone Cool
Tea can be re-poured; grudges can be set down
- 09
Green on the Willow Bank
She broke a willow leaving; returning, the willows have grown to shade
IV · He · The True Self
- 10
Flower at the Temple
At the mirror, the same girl of that year, wearing her flower yellow
- 11
The Empty Cup
When the tea is finished, the heart is quietly full
- 12
Mountains and Rivers, Held
Having seen all the mountains and rivers, she holds them inside
All twelve episodes are live (2026 upgraded edition, newly mastered) — each with story telling and notes on the music. For the album view, see The Spirit · The Sound of Mulan.