Mulan is not just a cartoon

After returning home from my quick trip through Chinese Gardens I started to reflect on what my gracious host, Izzy the monitor lizard, showed me. As we rushed through the park, I remembered at one point passing some statues of famous Chinese heroes. Izzy specifically pointed out Confucius but I thought I remembered seeing a statue of Mulan as well. I needed to go back to the gardens to be sure.

I knew about Mulan by watching the Disney cartoon about a Chinese girl who pretended to be a man and went to war for 12 years, never having her secret uncovered. It was one of my favorite movies that Samantha and I watched when I lived with her. I would sit in her lap and she would brush me while we watched. (I mostly liked the brushing part.)

I did a little research online and found an article by the Scribe of The Ancient Standard called "The Real Story of Mulan" dated June 17 2011. The "Real" Mulan was known as Fa Mulan in Cantonese and Hua Mulan in Mandarin. She was a character in a folktale about a  Chinese heroine that took her fathers place in a war because he was too weak to fight and she did not have any brothers. Wikipedia tells us the poem is called "The Ballad of Mulan" and it ends with the lines, " The male rabbit is swifter of foot, The eyes of the female are somewhat smaller. But when the two rabbits run side by side, How can you tell the female from the male?"
Pretty progressive for the 4th century...

Anyway, I had to take a trip back to Chinese Gardens to see if there really was a statue of Mulan there. I remembered which bus to take and the long walk through the field to enter the park. Unfortunately, Izzy was not there to greet me but I remembered where the statues were. I crossed the bridge, turned right and there she was!
I don't know if Mulan was a real person or not but I do know her story is an inspiration to me!
                    

                                                                                

        

            

Chinese Gardens, Singapore

What a great, educational trip I had today at the beautiful Chinese Gardens! The bus stopped right in front of the gardens but it was quite a long walk through a huge field to get to the entrance. The place was almost empty. I walked over a bridge and was met by a 4 foot long monitor lizard! I was startled by his huge size. I guess he sensed that because he remarked, "Don't be afraid you pretty cat. My name is Izzy and I am the official tour guide for animals that come to visit these beautiful gardens. Would you like me to show you around?"
"Thank you Izzy, I would really like that!" I replied. "My name is Purrla."
The first exhibit  he showed me was the 7 floor high pagoda. Izzy told me he was too old and slow to climb the stairs but he encouraged me to go up to the top. The sky was clear so I got a birds eye view of the whole park. The trip down the circular steps made me a little dizzy but it was fun anyway.
When I got to the bottom I saw Izzy swimming in the lake. He said since it was so hot he thought he would take a dip.
Feeling refreshed, he climbed out of the water and took me on a whirlwind tour. We saw several smaller pagoda's, watched a man trimming bonsai trees (Some of which were 90 years old), a bunch of statues of important Chinese figures  including Confucius, lots of beautiful, brightly painted bridges and a small, well tended garden with statues of the the 12 animals of the zodiac. I was disappointed there is no cat in the Chinese zodiac. There isn't a lizard either but there is a dragon. Izzy claims big lizards like him are related to the dragon. (Kind of a stretch I thought to myself.)

                                  


It was time to go home. I bid my very thorough tour guide a fond farewell and told him I would like to come back sometime. He told he would like that and then slipped back into the lake and swam off.
There is a lot more to see in Singapore but the Chinese Gardens is a very calming place and well worth a return trip.