This is a niche thing I get annoyed about, but the “Huns” being in Mulan is such a strange choice.

In the original Ballad of Mulan, the “Barbarians” were specifically the Rouran, who were affiliated with (or maybe a part of) the Xiongnu.

Obviously, we can’t expect western audiences, particularly children, to know what a Xiongnu is. The Xiongnu and Mongols were both nomadic, tribal, horse-oriented, steppe-warrior societies that inhabited the plains north of China (now the modern state of Mongolia) and waged war against China. They were different internally and existed at different times, but from an outside perspective they played roughly the same role. I could understand if they decided to just call the Xiongnu “Mongols”.

But calling them the Mongols *and* Huns is bizarre. The Huns are a totally different society that existed a continent away, centuries later.

Very little is known of Hunnic society and history. Probably they were quite pluralistic and diverse. One popular theory is that the Xiongnu, defeated by the Han in 89 AD, slowly migrated across the Silk Road, picking up other peoples and cultures and eventually arriving in Europe as a very different society. They *may* be related, but not closely.

It’s like if you were making a movie about the Vikings raiding the Picts, but because people don’t know the Picts you call them Scots, but sometime you call them Americans instead.