Mulan Chatting With Mushu on Her Shoulder coloring page

About this coloring page

Mulan and tiny Mushu show off the friendship between the heroine and her guardian dragon. It makes perfect sense for Mulan's protector to be a dragon, because in Chinese culture dragons are powerful creatures that are also wise and protective.

In many European fairy tales, a dragon is a fire breathing monster that hoards gold and battles knights. In China, the traditional dragon is tied to water, rain, rivers and the sea. People believed dragons brought the rains that crops needed and good luck to those around them.

The Chinese dragon is usually shown with a long, snakelike body, no wings, horns, whiskers and clawed feet. For centuries it was the symbol of the emperor, and it appears on temples, fabrics, pottery and at all kinds of celebrations.

Mushu, in the Disney movie, is much smaller and sillier than the dragons of legend, and that is a big part of his charm. He brags about being fearsome even though he fits on Mulan's shoulder. Still, he does his job as a guardian and proves that courage has nothing to do with size.

• mulan
• mushu
• dragon
• disney princess