In the traditional Chinese Ballad of Mulan, Mulan serves in the army for twelve years.
The ballad describes Mulan taking her father’s place in military service and fighting for many years. After twelve years, she returns home, where her former comrades discover that the soldier they knew is a woman. The poem ends with the famous image of paired rabbits: when running side by side, male and female rabbits are difficult to distinguish.
The ballad is much shorter and less detailed than either Disney film. It does not include Mushu, Cri-Kee, Shan Yu, Li Shang, or the elaborate sequence of comic army training shown in the 1998 animation. It also does not present the story in exactly the same historical framework as the films.
The number twelve is therefore a fact from the traditional poem, not a runtime, release interval, or exact duration shown in Disney’s adaptations. Modern retellings often expand the material, so readers should distinguish the ballad’s compact account from later fictional versions.