Mulan is based on an ancient Chinese poem called the Ballad of Mulan, which is set in the Northern Wei Dynasty, between 386 to 534 AD. The earliest printed version of the story still in existence today was first featured in an anthology from the 12th century, known as the Ballad of Mulan. The original Mulan story is quite different from both Disney’s 1998 animated film and the new live-action movie. The Ballad of Mulan is a short poem thought to have originated as a folk tale in the fourth or fifth century because of references to the period, known as the Northern Wei dynasty, which lasted from the fourth through the early sixth centuries. Scholars generally consider Mulan to be a fictional character.