Hua Xiu is a character in the 2020 live-action Disney remake of Mulan. She is the younger sister of Mulan.
Role in the film[]
Hua Xiu is first seen having her hair brushed by Mulan. When Xiu asks about a feat Mulan performed earlier involving chasing a chicken, Mulan claims there is a spider in Xiu's hair to distract her. Years later, Hua Xiu is later present during a meeting with the Matchmaker, who is trying to help Mulan be a good wife in the future. While listening to the Matchmaker's tips for Mulan, Xiu notices a spider crawling on the table and Mulan attempts to hide the spider from Xiu. However, the meeting was unsuccessful due to the spider incident, and the family return from the meeting to the head of the house and Xiu's father Hua Zhou.
After the Chancellor's message that all men must go fight in a war for China, Xiu and Mulan do not trust that their aging father could perform such a feat and come back alive, prompting Mulan to sneak off in the night and take her father's place while pretending to be a boy.
When Mulan returns home from the battle, Hua Xiu happily reunites with her sister and tells her that she has been matched with a shy but generous man. Mulan asks her father for forgiveness to which he accepts. Later when Commander Tung, Sergeant Qiang, and the rest of the Imperial Army arrive to the Hua family, Qiang announces that Hua Zhou's sword is presented to Mulan for saving the dynasty and her family just as Hua Xiu happily praises Mulan for bringing honor to her family.
Differences from the Source Material[]
Both the Ming dynasty play Mulan Joins the Army and in the Qing dynasty novel Fierce and Filial mention that Mulan has a sister by the name of Hua Munan.[2] However, the pronunciation and spelling of "Munan" is very similar to "Mulan," which may have caused confusion and the idea to change the name.
Trivia[]
- She is one of several brand new characters created for the live-action film.
- Hua Xiu is younger than Mulan.
- Hua Xiu is one of the first Disney characters to have arachnophobia.
- Hua Xiu has her hair tied up in a bun at the end of the movie after she had been engaged, Traditionally, women would wear their hair in a bun after they were officially married into the other family.