Continuity mistake: When the matchmaker grabs Mulan's hand her palm is shown to be covered in ink. She then unwittingly paints herself a goatee. However, immediately after this she grabs the teapot's handle but no ink rubs off onto it. The ink miraculously disappears from her palm as well.
Continuity mistake: The wagon, which is full of explosives, is on fire, so Mulan cuts Kahn (the horse) free with her sword and jumps onto Khan. She starts to ride away, while she holds the reins in her left hand and the sword with her right hand, up in the air. The wagon explodes and in the next shot, she still holds the reins in her left hand, though the sword, still in midair in her right hand, is now actually in its sheath, which is always attached to the left side of her belt. Some arrows are missing on the ground as well. Then her sheathed sword lands on the ground beside her. (00:53:45)
Continuity mistake: After finding out that Mulan left, the father picks up the comb and it is facing in a different direction from before.
Continuity mistake: In the avalanche scene the guys use a bow and arrow to save Mulan, the rope changes lengths from when they throw it to when they are pulling them up.
Continuity mistake: In the beginning of the movie when Fa Zhou gets the conscription notice, look how big it is. Over the course of the film, it changes size several times.
Continuity mistake: When Chien-Po causes everyone to fall down, rice flies out of the bowls of the people who were waiting in line for food, though their bowls were empty.
Continuity mistake: In the final battle scene, Mulan has her ribbon around the wire to begin sliding down, but then decides against it. The next shot of her running toward a fallen knight, there is no ribbon visible. Also, the giant sword mark that was left after she cut down the wire has vanished.
Continuity mistake: When Mushu is holding the Great Stone Dragon's stone head it looks different than when the statue was whole.
Continuity mistake: In the scene where Mulan takes off her makeup, she brings her arm up and wipes it off but she doesn't really ever touch her ears yet they suddenly don't have any makeup on them.
Continuity mistake: When Yao slides down the post, he scrapes off some of the wood with his teeth. In all the following shots, the post is intact again.
Continuity mistake: When the girls are dressing Mulan they tie a cloth around her waist, and when they pull the knot it's first in front then when it is fully pulled it's in the back.
Continuity mistake: When all the ladies are helping to prepare Mulan for the matchmaker, one of them pushes Mulan into the bath. She drops water on top of Mulan's head and magically has shampoo in her hands before she applies it.
Continuity mistake: When Mulan returns home after embarrassing herself and the MatchMaker, Mulan wipes the makeup from her face but none is seen on her sleeve.
Continuity mistake: After Mulan is done singing "Reflection" she sits down on a bench and suddenly her lips are darker than in the shot when she takes off the lipstick.
Continuity mistake: When Mulan embraces her father at the end, the flower petals on the ground have changed position from before.
Continuity mistake: In the scene where Mulan is fighting over the cup of tea with the matchmaker, she falls backward and her scarf falls off, yet when the table breaks it's nowhere to be seen.
Continuity mistake: When the soldiers arrive at the city that has been destroyed by the Huns, there are no footprints except for those of the soldiers. But there should be thousands of them left from the Huns ,army, and villagers who battled there. (And this was not because it snowed and covered the prints up. If it had snowed the buildings would be white.)
Continuity mistake: When Shang is talking to Mulan and is asking her name, there is a shot of Mulan and suddenly Shang comes into frame and says "What's your name." There isn't a gold string that's attaching his sword to him. It's also gone in other shots in this scene.
Continuity mistake: When Shan Yu is laughing on the rooftop, there is a shot of the terror-struck crowd. In this shot the dragon the Hun soldiers are hiding under is facing to the left. When they burst out of it, it is facing straight in front of them.
Continuity mistake: When Mulan has the cricket cage under her dress the amount of cloth that covers the top portion of it changes throughout the whole time it's back there.
Answer: They were weights that he made everyone use to try to get the arrow. It's unknown how heavy they were but they must have been heavy enough to even make a strong guy like Chien-Po fall to the ground.