Mulan is one of the four legendary women in ancient China, and also a legendary woman in the Southern and Northern Dynasties in China. Her story is also a tragic and heroic epic. Mulan first appeared in a narrative poem "Mulan Ci" in the Southern and Northern Dynasties, written in the Northern Wei Dynasty in the Southern and Northern Dynasties and originally recorded in Chen's "Ancient and Modern Music Record" in the Southern Dynasties. The monk wise craftsman said in the Record of Ancient and Modern Music: "Mulan is nameless." It was more than 300 words long and was later polished by the literati of Sui and Tang Dynasties.
Peacock Flying Southeast is the first narrative poem in the history of China literature, and it is also the pinnacle of Yuefu poetry. Later generations praised it as a "double wall of Yuefu" with the same reputation as Mulan's poems in the Northern Dynasties. Peacock Flying Southeast is based on a marriage tragedy in Lujiang County during the reign of Emperor Xian of the Eastern Han Dynasty. The original title was "Ancient Poems for Jiao Zhongqing's Wife", and it was named because the first sentence of the poem was "Peacock flies southeast and wanders in five miles". The whole poem has more than 350 sentences, 1700 words. It mainly tells the story of being forced to separate and both committed suicide, accusing the ruthlessness of feudal ethics and praising Jiao and Liu's sincere feelings and rebellious spirit.