Ye Weizhang

01 · Lineage & Regional School

From childhood he was taken by his grandfather to Mount Mulan to pay homage to Mulan, and in 1981 his father passed on to him all the family's books, materials and diaries concerning the Mulan legend, teaching him orally and by example, so that he learned to tell more than twenty Mulan stories vividly and with expressive force in both the Wuhan dialect and standard Mandarin. Within the regional tradition and school record of Mulan Legend in Wuhanshihuangpi, Hubei: The Mulan legend has the Huangpi district of Wuhan, Hubei, among its core areas of circulation; Mount Mulan in Huangpi is said to be Hua Mulan's native place, and such famous sites as Mount Mulan, Mulan Lake, Mulan River, Mulan Heavenly Pool, Mulan Stone Gate and Mulan Qingliang Stockade are all named from the Mulan legend, which is known to every household there. In addition, the Mulan shrine at Yingkuo in Yucheng, Henan, preserves a stone stele inscribed with Mulan's life, erected in the second year of Yuantong of the Yuan, 1334; its text of more than three thousand characters records in detail Mulan's birthplace, surname, deeds and family information.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

Male, Han ethnicity, born in January 1963, a native of Wuhan City, Hubei Province. A storyteller of the Mulan legend. He subsequently travelled widely, collecting more than fifty Mulan legends together with related biographies, novels, poetry, drama, New Year prints and other materials in more than twenty categories amounting to nearly three thousand items, and established a family exhibition hall, forming a complete documentary genealogy of Mulan culture. In 2006 he founded the Hua Mulan Exhibition Hall on Mount Mulan. In 2009 he co-founded an exhibition hall devoted specifically to the Mulan legend. In 2010 he took early retirement in order to devote himself to teaching, researching and publicizing the transmission of the Mulan legend. He is the compiler and author of Zhong Guo Mu Lan Wen Hua Shi Yi (Gleanings from Chinese Mulan Culture). His disciple Ye Ying excels at oral narration and is also adept at using the internet to disseminate the Mulan legend in audio and video form. Within the documented technical tradition of Mulan Legend in Wuhanshihuangpi, Hubei: Hua Mulan is a legendary heroine of far-reaching influence in ancient China, and the Mulan legend includes such stories as The Birth of Mulan, Young Mulan, Joining the Army in Her Father's Place, Winning Merit Beyond the Frontier, Declining Rewards and Reunion at Home. The legend has been transmitted for a thousand years and is very rich in content, touching figures, place names, administrative divisions, products, customs and religion and covering many fields of folk literature, widely spread, with many adaptations throughout China and a wide influence overseas. In Huangpi district of Wuhan, Hubei, there is Mount Mulan, said to be Hua Mulan's native place, with many famous sites named from the Mulan legend, such as Mount Mulan, Mulan Lake, Mulan River, Mulan Heavenly Pool, Mulan Stone Gate and Mulan Qingliang Stockade. The Mulan legend is widely current in both places and known to every household. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Declining Rewards": One of the core episodes of the Mulan legend. "Mount Mulan": The famous site in Huangpi said to be Hua Mulan's native place. "Mulan Heavenly Pool": One of the famous sites in Huangpi named from the Mulan legend.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

National representative bearer of the Mulan Legend, a fifth-batch national intangible cultural heritage project.

04 · Associated Heritage Item Dossier

05 · Fellow National Bearers Lineage

National representative bearers recorded under the same item code, ordered from the first to the sixth batch. Batch order is not a teacher–student relationship.

06 · Archival Sources & Bibliography

1. Ye Weizhang · National Representative Bearer Archive