Chen Honghui

**Chen Honghui** is a character in the 2020 Disney live-action remake of *Mulan*. He is a confident and ambitious recruit who joins Commander Tung's unit. He becomes Mulan's most important ally and eventual love interest. He is portrayed by Yoson An.

## Background

### Personality

Honghui first appears to be cocky and arrogant at the start of the film. For these traits, he and Hua Mulan got off to a terrible start, as his arrogance did not please her. However, as the film goes on, his more positive traits start to come out, such as his confidence, ambition, courage, humor, loyalty, and kindness. He reveals to Hua Jun, (Hua Mulan's male counterpart), that he has a bit of an insecurity when it comes to women. Honghui states that he does not know how he should talk to a woman, and asks Hua Jun what he should do about it. Hua Jun responds, saying that Honghui should talk to women the same way he talks to Hua Jun; basically telling him to be true to himself.

### Physical appearance

Honghui is shown to be a very attractive man. He has short, black hair, tanned skin, and dark brown, almost black eyes. He is shown to be quite muscular, and is very athletic. For most of the film, his hair is tied back into a simple bun.

## Role in the film

Honghui first appears near the start of the movie, when the recruits come to the Imperial Army's training grounds. Someone pushed one of the soldiers, causing the soldier to knock into Hua Mulan. The force from the soldier causes Mulan to tumble to the ground. Honghui walks over to her, laughs at her misfortune, and asks if she needs a hand, calling her a "little man". Mulan, insulted by his arrogance, gets up and points her sword directly at his throat as she says, "Insult me again, and you'll taste the tip of my blade." In response, Honghui draws his sword, points it at her throat, and orders Mulan to lower her sword. Mulan asks him what will happen if she doesn't. However, before he could respond, their fight is broken up by Commander Tung. One night, Honghui awakens slightly to see Mulan fixing her clothes, and wonders why she is doing so.

One day, during a lunch break, Mulan's roommates start discussing their ideal woman. Honghui asks Mulan, not knowing she is a girl, what her ideal woman is. Mulan responds saying that her ideal woman is someone who is courageous, has a good sense of humor, and who is smart. Yao, one of the recruits starts to make fun of the choice, but Honghui stands up for Mulan.

Later that night, Honghui and Mulan are in their tent, and Honghui asks Mulan if she had been matched yet. Mulan responds saying she had once been matched, however it had not worked out. Honghui responds saying she was lucky, as he was not sure how he should talk to a woman. Mulan responds saying he should talk to a woman the way he talks to her. Still doubting himself, Honghui asks Mulan, "What if she doesn't like me?" And with great certainty, Mulan says, "She will." Honghui then gets a whiff of Mulan's scent and tells her she needs to take a bath, something she had not done in days.

Later, during training, the two are paired to duel each other. In the beginning, Honghui disarms Mulan twice. However, as Mulan starts to use her strength more, their duel becomes more serious, as they are shown to be evenly matched. Their duel is so intense, the rest of the recruits and even Commander Tung stand and watch them. Eventually, however, Mulan stops the duel and leaves, causing the recruits, Tung, and even Honghui himself to be left awestruck by her talent.

That night, Mulan goes to the lake near the training grounds, and takes her first bath in days. Unfortunately, her bath is interrupted by Honghui, who noticed she was not in the tent, and went out to find her. Honghui approaches her as he enters the lake. Honghui had wanted to compliment Mulan on her fighting, but Mulan, scared that he would find out she was a girl, tells him to go away, as she isolates herself from him. Saddened, Honghui tells her that if they cannot be friends, they can at least be equals. As Honghui pauses to rest his arms while doing the water bucket challenge, Mulan passes by him, and is the first to reach the top of the mountain without pausing. Honghui, along with the other recruits are in awe of Mulan's strength, and good balance.

During the first fight against the Rourans, Honghui is swept up in the avalanche the Rourans had created. Noticing him being buried alive, Mulan rescues him, and brings him to safety. Once she is back on solid ground, Mulan lays him down in the snow, and checks his heartbeat. Finding that he is still alive, Mulan breathes a sigh of relief and leaves him to wake up on his own. When Honghui finds out Mulan is a girl, he along with the others are shocked to discover the truth. When Mulan returns to the army, she tells Tung of Bori Khan's plans, however, Tung does not believe her. Honghui stands up for Mulan, saying that if Tung trusted Hua Jun, (Mulan's male disguise), why couldn't he trust Mulan. Tung eventually does decide to trust Mulan, and he has her lead the army into battle.

During the second fight, Honghui saves Mulan from a Rouran who tried to attack her. He tells her to go and save the Emperor. Before Mulan leaves, Honghui tells her to bolt the doors to the passage they were in. Mulan, hesitant to do this hesitates, but after Honghui encourages her to do it, she does, and leaves to save the Emperor. Before Mulan leaves for her home, Honghui comes to see her off. He offers his hand to her, and when she pauses, he asks her, "You still won't take my hand?" Mulan slowly puts her hand in his. The two smile at each other, before Mulan lets go, mounts her horse, and leaves.

## Trivia

* He is one of the several brand-new characters created for the live-action film.
* Both Chen Honghui and Commander Tung are loosely based on Li Shang, Mulan's love interest in the original animated film. While the latter resembles Li Shang appearance-wise yet different in terms of personality, the former fulfills his character basis's position as Mulan's lover in the remake.
	+ According to producer Jason Reed, the decision to omit Shang from the movie was partially inspired by the #MeToo movement, under the belief that having the commanding officer of an army serve as a "sexual love interest" was inappropriate. Instead, Shang’s role was split into two new characters; one is Commander Tung, the General and a mentor figure to Mulan. The other is Chen Honghui, one of Mulan’s army peers who eventually becomes her love interest. This decision was met with notable controversy.
* There was a deleted scene cut from the movie of Mulan and Honghui kissing to appease Chinese audiences.