An officer being disabled, his daughter puts on his armor, and, so disguised, leads his troops to the conflict. The original is anonymous and of uncertain date.

The following ballad is taken verbatim from the book The Siege of Peking ~ China Against The World, which was published in 1900. In it, W.A.P. Martin states in a footnote about how Chinese women are easily infected by a martial spirit, that "the extremely popular ballad called Mulon (sic) the Maiden Chief" affords evidence of how they can be aroused to fight. The ballad, found in the Appendix of Martin's book from 1900, is reproduced here below.

Mulan the Maiden Chief

Mulan, a Chinese Joan of Arc

The Ballad of Mulan

A Chinese Ballad of the Liang Dynasty, 502-556 A.D.