Li Shang

**General Li Shang** is the tritagonist of Disney's 1998 animated feature film, *Mulan*. The son of an army general, Shang aspires to succeed his father as the leader of "China's greatest troops". Shang's dreams are realized when he is appointed the head of a ragtag group of soldiers that must defend China from the tyranny of Shan Yu.

## Background

Shang is the son of General Li, the head of the Imperial Chinese army. During his appointment in the first movie, he is a highly capable leader with a dedication to his cause. It is mentioned that he was first in his class in regard to military affairs and was knowledgeable in training tactics. He is often disparagingly called a 'Pretty Boy' due to his dashing good looks and strong physique.

### Personality

With the weight of China's safety within his hands, Shang was a powerful, no-nonsense force during his time as the general of his division. When dealing with his soldiers, as well as his supervisor, the Emperor's counsel Chi-Fu, he relied on verbal and physical force to get his messages across, with his training methods evidently being brutal and exhausting, though effective in the grand scheme of things, showing an efficient leader behind the harsh exterior.

A major theme in the film involves gender stereotypes, both male and female. This is relevant in Shang's case as, through his song, "I'll Make a Man Out of You", as well as his treatment towards Mulan following the events of her reveal, he is shown to be internally sexist, having been brought into a society where women are looked down upon, while men and exaggerated masculinity was ideal. Nevertheless, Shang is capable of having his viewpoints changed, as Mulan's undebatable bravery and capability were enough to prove gender is no matter in terms of heroism deserving of praise, being one of the first individuals to take up for the latter after her sheer wit led to the defeat of feared Hun Shan Yu.

Also, despite his skill at military affairs, he seems to be somewhat lacking in social skills, as he has trouble telling Mulan about his romantic feelings for her, or even properly congratulating her following her success in saving China, coyly using the grammatically incorrect "You fight good." statement to do so. This is further explored in the sequel, where he is shown to be a polar opposite of Mulan, as the former is quick to discard his true feelings and emotions for the sake of missions and assignments, whereas Mulan follows the mantra of "one's duty is to one's heart". Nevertheless, both sides of the coin can be consequential, allowing both Shang and Mulan, when joined together, to balance one another out, establishing a healthy relationship both professionally and romantically.

### Physical appearance

Shang is a tall, muscular Chinese man with tanned skin, dark brown eyes, and shoulder-length black hair tied in a bun adorned with a red clip.

His primary appearance has him wearing a black-and-gray Chinese warrior armor that resembles a Genji armor with gold trim. Beneath his tunic is an off-white long sleeve tunic, khaki pants, and black-and-white Chinese warrior boots. He also wears a red cape on the back which on the front has tied on his neck.

When he trains the new recruits including a disguised Fa Mulan, Shang was in shirtless and wears dark khaki Chinese pants adorned with a teal ribbon which is tied on the left side and black toe shoes and white socks. He is soon wearing an off-white tunic after he removes it during their heavy training.

In *Mulan II* during his marriage with Fa Mulan, Shang's hair is loose and wears an off-white sleeveless Chinese garb along with khaki Chinese pants, black toe shoes, and white socks. He later replaces a light brown Chinese tunic when he was riding a horse together with his wife.

In their mission, Shang maintains his primary outfit on the first film as his armor and his tunic are now in a different shade of gold along with the trim of his warrior armor now being black.

At the end of the film, Shang wears a traditional Chinese tunic that resembles the male traditional Korean *hanbok* and a matching *gat* and it was worn by the male Korean citizens in the 1800s.

### Abilities

* **Above average strength:** When he was training the recruits to fight the Huns, where he had his men train carrying weights, he picked up "Ping"'s weight and carried it in addition to his own without being affected by it, even though his men struggled to carry one weight. He has also shown able to fight the mighty Shan Yu unarmed as the Hun leader found it difficult to subdue him.
* **High Pain Tolerance / Lack of Sense of Pain:** He pulled an arrow out of his shoulder with no expression, had a statue possibly crush his fingers, and took multiple beatings without care. He may have been saved from the arrow piercing his vital organs by his armor.
* **Bojutsu:** When he trains the new recruits including Mulan who is disguised as Ping. Shang uses a bamboo stick or a wooden stick that resembles a bo staff as he demonstrates the art of bojutsu to show how to master this Chinese martial art. He was seen deflecting the apples by spinning the wood stick he wielded.

## Trivia

* Li Shang's act of turning the entire camp against Mulan is actually a common technique used by sergeants during training - trouble-makers will not be singled out by the sergeant, which would result in earning them sympathy, but instead, earn all recruits a punishment.
	+ Li's act of singling Yao out with the retrieval of the arrow is also a technique used in training - smart-mouths will be singled out for humiliation, not only to show that they are wrong but also to show they are a risky person to agree with or be friends with.
* Li Shang is possibly ambidextrous. He tends to do a lot with the left hand as well as right same with Mulan.
* According to the audio commentary on the special edition *Mulan* DVD, Li Shang was considered a dorky guy despite being physically fit due to his inability to talk to Mulan. An example of this would be after she defeats Shan Yu he says "You fight good" in a nervous way.
* Although he is great at kung-fu, he is a clumsy dancer as seen in a comic, and appears to be somewhat clumsy in the second movie, much like Mulan herself, initially.
* He appears to be a speed reader in the second movie.
* If he is "number one in his class" it's possible he has the "Jinshi (金石)" title.
* His half of the yin and yang necklace is the yin side, associated with femininity.
* He and Mulan are the only non-royal members of the Disney Princess line-up.
* Li Shang's apparent interest in Mulan while she disguised herself as a man led to fans speculate on him being bisexual. This never received official confirmation.