Is the monkey an appropriate 2008 Olympic mascot? No one will know for sure until next year. Now that the Chinese Seal has been officially designated as the 2008 Olympics emblem, the games' mascot has taken over as hot topic. Animal images like the panda, dragon, lion, tiger, Tibetan antelope, and rabbit are also under consideration, but monkeyking2008.com, a website promoting the Monkey King as 2008 Olympics mascot, reports that 89 percent of its visitors want the Monkey. Results of a survey conducted by China's largest portal site, Sina.com, also indicate the Monkey King as hot favorite for mascot.

The Adventures of the Monkey King

Chinese children grow up with stories of Monkey King Sun Wukong, and his image is everywhere in Chinese drama. He is the protagonist of Journey to the West, one of the four famous Chinese classic novels. The book describes the adventures of Tang monk Tripitaka and his three disciples on their mission to the Western Heavens to find and bring back Buddhist scriptures. The character Tripitaka was based on the real monk Xuanzang who traveled to India in 629 to bring back to the Chinese people the essence of Buddhism. The trip took him 17 years, and when he finally returned to Chang'an (present-day Xi'an), he brought with him over 600 volumes of Sanskrit Buddhist scriptures.

Wu Cheng'en (1510-1582) of the Ming Dynasty was author of the 100-chapter novel based on the Tang Monk Xuanzang's journey. He imbued it with the colorful, fantastic adventures of Sun Wukong, a monkey that springs into existence out of one stray stone of many earmarked by Goddess Nuwa to patch a hole in the heavens. Born from a stone that is the essence of Heaven and Earth rather than of a mother and father, Sun Wukong is unbound by the fetters of temporal human relationships. Neither impressed not intimidated by order, ritual or hierarchy, he causes havoc in Heaven, the Dragon King's Palace, and Hell. His refusal to collude with evil forces makes him a hero and embodiment of righteousness in the eyes of the Chinese people.

Sun Wukong's punishment for causing havoc in Heaven is imprisonment under a mountain where he remains for 500 years. He is liberated in return for guaranteeing Tripitaka's safe passage to the West. From this point onwards the book is an account of Sun Wukong's conquest of all manner of ghosts and demons along the way to the Western Heavens.

Sun Wukong symbolizes the worldly desire for the ideal human life that is free from constraint. He is eventually brought to heel and contained within the power of Buddhism. This indicates the true human condition wherein the desire for personal freedom and dignity is always curbed by the confines of reality.

Monkey King International

In 1983 Chinese Central TV screened a serialization of Journey to the West, and the Monkey King's massive body of admirers swelled to include overseas devotees. He can now be seen greeting visitors to Disney World at various locations alongside Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck.

The NBC version of Journey to the West -- The Lost Empire -- is a 4-hour-long, two-part high-tech "virtual" TV drama that combines elements of Chinese and Western culture. The American Hallmark TV channel also produced a play, called simply Monkey King. Making Havoc in Heaven was the first and remains the most successful animated Monkey King feature film. Steven Spielberg's dream factory has declared its intention to produce the Monkey King story with a slight variation. Their version takes place in Tang Dynasty China, where Sun Wukong is a monkey slave at a university. Sanzang, a teacher at the university, takes Sun Wukong along with him to India. After setting sail, they lose their way on the high seas and finally land on the American continent. It is they that first bring corn kernels to the American Indians.

Monkey King's Sporting Spirit

"Sun Wukong has strong associations with sportsmanship," says accomplished Chinese writer Zhao Benfu. "This stems from his superlative acrobatic skills, intractable personality, and cognizance of fundamental rules. His journey to the Western Heavens represents the ultimate challenge, which is why all sportsmen admire his spirit. The Olympics celebrate the dynamism of life explicit in the image of Sun Wukong."

Zhao speaks for the many who see Sun Wukong as epitomizing the essence of the Olympic motto: "Swifter, higher, stronger." One somersault takes him a distance of 9,000 kilometers; he can jump on top of a cloud in an instant, and in the face of powerful demons is always resourceful enough to confound his enemies.

China has about 120 million people who were born in the Year of the Monkey, and millions of other people whose surname is Sun. They are all unconditional supporters of Sun Wukong as the candidate for the Beijing 2008 Olympic mascot.

The Monkey King Hometown

Author Wu Cheng'en was born in Huai'an, near what is now the Lianyungang Nature Reserve in the Yuntai Mountains on China's east coast. Wu was a frequent visitor to the Yuntai Range, most frequently to Mount Huaguo, and Sun Wukong is one of the few mythological figures whose place of origin is clearly identified. In Journey to the West his home is actually named as Mount Huaguo. It was here that Wu Cheng'en combined knowledge gathered from historic materials on Monk Xuanzang's journey to India and his fertile imagination to create his masterpiece.

On Huaguo can be seen recognizable images and spots as described in the novel. One is an eight-meter-tall rock resembling a monkey standing on a hill at the north gate, another is reminiscent of the Tang Monk in his cassock, near which is a Pigsy-like rock. Most striking is the Water Curtain Cave, home of Monkey King, whose entrance is a cascade of spring water forming a crystal curtain. Inside the cave is a constant spring that the locals say Sun Wukong traveled through to the Crystal Palace of the Dragon King of the Eastern Sea.

The municipal government of Lianyungang is proudly promoting Sun Wukong as the 2008 Olympic mascot, and also taking this opportunity to make its tourism resources, which apart from sites related to Monkey King also include China's earliest rock carvings and a well-preserved 2,000-year-old corpse, known to the world.

(China Today November 8, 2003)