Monkey King from Journey to the West: A great hero of China We talked about him before in our blog. He represents many positive traits in Chinese culture; they are thought of intelligent, dignified, optimistic, romantic, sociable, quick-witted, confident, agile, motivators, curious and gregarious. The year before last year, 2016, was a great year to have a baby (as was 2004, 1992 and 1980 and so on..), since they were the year of monkey. Considering we all have monkeys on our minds, it seems pertinent to take a look at China’s most famous literary monkey character: The Monkey King. As the most famous monkey in China, perhaps also in the world, he has different titles: Great Sage Equalling Heaven, the Protector of Horses in Heaven, Wukong (Realize the great nothing) and the Monkey King.
Wukong is one of the main protagonists in the classic 16 th century novel, 西游 记 (Xīyóu Jì, Journey to the West). The novel follows the legendary pilgrimage of a Buddhist monk to the “western regions” (central Asia and India) and his ensuing adventures and misadventures. Wukong is a playful, curious monkey born with supernatural powers. He grows up to rebel against Heaven in the first part of the book and then goes on to accompany the monk on his long pilgrimage. It’s truly an epic tale! There are four other members in the team: Monk Xuanzang, Pig Bajie, Sha Wujing and the White Dragon Horse. Each of them has their own character. Xuanzang, a devout eminent monk, is the spiritual leader of the team. Bajie