Songzhou (present-day Shangqiu, Henan), Northern Wei Dynasty.
Hua Mulan (412-502), a native of Songzhou (present-day Shangqiu, Henan Province) in Northern Wei Dynasty, was a woman hero, whose deeds have been passed down to the present day. She was a national hero of Northern China in ancient times, a person of loyalty, filial piety, and righteousness, and was famous for defeating invading peoples in her father's defense, and was posthumously awarded the title of "General of Filial Piety and Martyrdom" by the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty.
Hua Mulan's father was a former soldier, so Mulan was raised as a boy. When Mulan was in her teens, her father used to take Mulan to the river outside her village to practice martial arts, riding horses, shooting arrows, dancing with swords, and making sticks. In her spare time, Mulan also liked to read her father's old army books.
During the reign of Emperor Taiwu (424--452), the Northern Wei Dynasty had undergone reforms by Emperor Xiaowen, which led to socio-economic development and a more stable life for the people. But at that time, the northern nomads, the Zoroastrians, kept coming south to harass them, and the Northern Wei regime stipulated that one man from each family should be sent to the front line.
But Mulan's father was too old to go to the battlefield, and her younger brother was too young, so Mulan decided to take her father's place in the army, and from then on she began her years-long military life.
Expanded Information
Yucheng County, Shangqiu City, Henan Province, has been named the "Hometown of Mulan in China" by the Chinese Folk Literature and Artists Association. In order to commemorate Hua Mulan, there are Mulan Middle School, Mulan Railway Station, Mulan Hotel, Hua Mulan Resort, Hua Mulan Industry Group, Hua Mulan Militia Company, and Mulan Giant Statue in Yucheng County, Shangqiu City, Henan Province.
Shangqiu also has a Hua Mulan Martial Arts Association, Hua Mulan Pan Drum Team, and Hua Mulan Dragon Dance Team. Every year, on the eighth day of April, Mulan's birthday, people come to offer sacrifices, and the temple fair is grand with a sea of people.
China.com-Hua Mulan--Ancient National Heroine
Baidu Encyclopedia-Hua Mulan