FOX | Chinese scholar leads effort to boycott Disney’s ‘Mulan’ due to ties with Communist party

Disney‘s new live-action incarnation of “Mulan” is pure propaganda for China’s Communist Party, made to please government officials — and revise a tale beloved around the world to match Beijing’s dark social vision, a top Sino academic told Fox News.

The 1998 version that cast a spell on audiences around the world was actually banned in China, even though children there grew up hearing the story, native Chinese scholar and author Helen Raleigh explained. Now, Raleigh said, Disney’s come back with a version it hopes will pass muster with a deeply repressive government, in the world’s most populous nation.

“My mom told me the story when I was a little girl,” Raleigh said. “The universal appeal, which the 1998 version captured well, was the message of a young person going through self-discovery, using self-determination and along the way she finds love.”

The new “Mulan” misses the original point, and emphasizes the blind allegiance the Chinese Communist Party demands of its citizens, she said.

“The kind of loyalty they demand is — ‘You do what the party tells you to do and you do not ask questions. You do not dissent. You should be ready to sacrifice yourself,’” Raleigh said.