Is Mulan a Disney Princess or not?

In class the other day some kids in class were arguing with me over whether or not Mulan is a Disney Princess. From the argument it made me wonder why Mulan is really a Disney Princess. From many Disney resources I collected information pertaining why Mulan is in fact a Disney Princess. Although she was not born into royalty or married into royalty she is still considered a Disney Princess because of her brave actions. She is not a Princess but is a heroine for the Disney World. Like Mulan, Disney wished to honor Asian cultures by devoting an animated film to an Asian story.

Mulan is a brave 16 year old Chinese heroine who dresses up like a soldier and goes to war in place of her crippled father, risking death and dishonor. She is loosely based on the heroine from the anicent Chinese epic peom "The Legend of Hua Mulan" She puts herself in harm's way when she learns that her weak father is to be drafted into the army to fight the invading Huns. Knowing that he would never survive the rigors of war in his state, she decides to disguise herself as a man and join in his place. Unknown to her, her ancestors are aware of this, and to prevent it, they order a tiny disgraced dragon, Mushu, to join her and force her to abandon her plan. He agrees, but when he meets Mulan, he learns that she cannot be dissuaded and so decides to help her in the perilous times ahead. In the process, Mulan becomes Disney's most feminist protagonist to date. and she is the only Disney princess who is not royal by blood or marriage, but she is a princess by achieving honor from the Emperor himself by saving China. She comes close to marrying a prince in her second movie. During her stay in the army, she falls in love with the captain, Li Shang and they marry at the end of the second movie.

Traditionally a girl is a "princess" if:
* Her father / mother are King / Queen.
*** Not the case of Mulan's family. Her father was noble, but not a king.

* She marries a Prince
*** Again, not the case of Mulan, she married a General, not a Prince.

But to be considered a "Disney Princess" then Disney has to give that title to the character. That was already done and Mulan is officially considered a "Disney Princess" no matter if her father is not a king or her husband is not a prince. She is a Princess because Disney believes she is one.

Disney Princess is a Walt Disney Company franchise, based on fictional characters who have been featured as part of the Disney character line-up. The main eight are: Snow White, Cinderella, Aurora, Ariel, Belle, Jasmine, Mulan, and Pocahontas.

The characters were not chosen specifically for their royal titles, but rather for how well they fit into what Disney executives deemed “the Princess mythology." Mulan is an example of this concept; she has no familial ties to royalty, but is still included in the character list. Therefor Mulan is a true Disney Princess.