Later in the chapter, as Fa Mu Lan and her army approach Peiping, the governmental seat of power, the woman warrior basks in the sight of a united Chinese population acting as one total, all-encompassing community. Although Kingston, of course, created the words she attributes to Fa Mu Lan, even she must realize that her own search for an identity as part of a larger community never will produce the pride and sense of belonging felt by Fa Mu Lan as she looks down at her people from atop a hill: ". . . the land was peopled — the Han people, the People of One Hundred Surnames, marching with one heart, our tatters flying. The depth and width of Joy were exactly known to me: the Chinese population."
Listening to her mother's talk-stories about women warriors, young Kingston does not even understand whether the village that Brave Orchid alludes to when she chides her daughter, "Let me tell you a true story about a girl who saved her village," is the family village in China or the Stockton, California, community in which she and her family live. Because many immigrants considered their sojourn in America to be temporary, Kingston's parents might have discussed returning with their family to their village in China, which would have confused the young girl trying to fit into an American culture but hearing stories only about China.
Desperate to win her mother's approval and to do something "big and fine," Kingston does not recognize that her mother uses the story of Fa Mu Lan to make the point that sacrificing oneself for the family and village is more important than gaining individual success. Fa Mu Lan's sacrificial acts of fighting in place of her father and saving her village from the tyrannical baron are more important than any actual glory she earns in battle. Brave Orchid downplays her daughter's success at school because, according to the moral of Fa Mu Lan, the self-sacrificial act deserves recognition, not the glory Kingston gets from school, especially since females are not expected to excel in school or in their careers.
