SHE WAS A soldier's daughter who grew up on a humble farm, more at home with the gentle clicks of her loom than the ugly clanging of sword against sword and the miserable cries of men felled in battle. Yet, when the time came, she disguised herself as a man and went off to war in her father's place, risking life and virtue for her family and her country.
So went the legendary tale of Mulan, a woman who for centuries had been - and continues to be - a source of inspiration for many Chinese. She has been the figure behind operas and films, not the least of which are the Shaw Brothers classic Lady General Hua Mulan (1964) and Walt Disney's 1998 animated feature Mulan.
And Mulan is again being resurrected, this time against the backdrop of a battle for supremacy between four cinema production groups. As US powerhouse Disney plans a sequel, Mulan II, for 2004, there are three versions in development in China, with release due in 2004 and 2005.
Budgeted at US$30 million (HK$234 million), Michelle Yeoh Choo Kheng's Hua Mulan looks set to be the biggest of the three Chinese productions. The film, expected to go into production this winter, will reunite her with Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon co-star Chow Yun-fat, with Oscar-winning cinematographer Peter Pau Tak-hei at the helm.
Stanley Tong Kwai-lai, Yeoh's director in Supercop, is planning the US$25 million The Legend Of Mulan, which he hopes to get into production some time next year, after he finishes directing another Jackie Chan actioner, Time Breaker (previously Titanium Rain).
The late starter out of the gate is Mulan, a mainland Chinese-Korean production budgeted at US$8 million which is expected to star My Sassy Girlfriend actress Jeon Ji-hyun and Taiwanese R&B singer Jay Chou Jie-lun or Jerry Yan, a member of Taiwanese boy band F4.
Producers for each project know of their rivals' existence and, while it is moot who first started on the project, all three are still determined to make it to the battleground.