A Porcelain Figure of Mulan, Jingdezhen, c.1960

the figure wearing military attire and standing beside his horse, holding a sword in one hand and reigns in the other, standing on a rocky base

Mao Zedong encouraged artists to use of 'model heroes' of the past.  In orthodox Chinese Marxist historiography, all peasant uprisings were harbingers of the Communist revolution.  The stories of these heroes, such as Mu Lan, Song Jingshi and Wu Song were often retold in plays and films.