The Ballad of Mulan is an ancient Chinese folk song that tells the story of a brave and clever filial daughter who took her father's place in the army.
In ancient times, there was a girl named Hua Mulan. Her father had once been a military general for the imperial court, but as he grew older, he retired at home. As a child, Mulan had trained in martial arts with her father, mastering all eighteen forms of combat with exceptional skill.
When war broke out and the court conscripted all able-bodied men, Hua Mulan's aging father was called to serve. Seeing his frail health and her young brother unable to take his place, Mulan resolved to disguise herself as a man and join the army in her father's stead.
She shared her idea with her parents. Her father initially refused outright, but moved by her filial devotion and seeing no other immediate solution, he finally gave his consent.
Hua Mulan bid farewell to her parents and followed the army to the frontier for battle. Though a woman, she was skilled in martial arts, quick-witted, and brave, repeatedly performing heroic feats. After ten grueling years of war, Mulan and her comrades finally defeated the enemy and returned home in triumph.
After the long years of war, Hua Mulan had earned the greatest merit on the battlefield. When the emperor rewarded his officers, he insisted on appointing her Minister of War. But Mulan repeatedly declined, saying, "I thank Your Majesty for your grace, but I do not wish to be Minister of War. I only ask for a swift horse to carry me home, so I may be reunited with my parents as soon as possible."
Soon, Mulan returned home as she had wished. When she took off her armor and put on women's clothing again, her comrades who had fought alongside her for years exclaimed in astonishment, "After twelve years together, we never knew Mulan was a woman!"
The final lines of this poem use metaphor and imagery: "The male rabbit kicks its feet, the female rabbit's eyes are blurred; when two rabbits run side by side, who can tell which is male or female." Using the indistinguishability of rabbits' genders as a metaphor for wearing battle robes, where one cannot tell male from female, or discern whether Mulan is a man or a woman.
The idiom "puzuo mili" originally described lifting a rabbit by its ears—the male kicks wildly while the female half-closes its eyes. Later, it came to describe complex situations where the truth is hard to discern.
Source: *Ballad of Mulan* (Northern Dynasties)
Meaning of the Idiom: Later, the Chinese idiom "扑朔迷离" came to describe complex situations where the truth is hard to discern.