Week 6 Essay: The Monkey King

This week, I read about the adventures of Sun Wu Kong, the Monkey King. The accounts of his adventures throughout China, from his unique and miraculous origins to his defiance of the Buddha and his subsequent fall from grace in the heavens, and then to his restoration as a Buddha in his own right, are perhaps the most well-known stories in Chinese literature. The action in the storytelling is gripping and the reader certainly sides with the protagonist.

The thing that captured my attention most in this unit was the influences of culture that could be seen throughout. China has a rich history with diverse traditions. It was especially interesting to see the accounts of the deities that people worshiped in those days (Thousand-mile Eye and Wind-accompanying Ear, for example).

As I mentioned in one of my previous posts, this unit holds a certain sense of nostalgia for me. These tales have been passed down through the generations since they were conceived. My parents are Chinese immigrants, and they grew up with these stories. As such, during my childhood, I also had the privilege of hearing and watching the wondrous tales of the Monkey King. I used to watch a set of children's cartoons based off of the literature and now that I have read the unit, I can safely say that I am impressed with how closely the cartoons followed the original stories. They didn't seem to have watered down the themes simply so children would understand them (although, I will admit, I probably did not comprehend some of the deeper meanings when I was mindlessly watching the show as a child).

I loved the images that were incorporated throughout the unit. I have seen these stories depicted in live theater, and although some of the costumes are not what people would typically think of first, they reflect the culture through their colors and patterns. This is a vibrant story, and the dress certainly emulates that. Overall, I had a great time reading this unit--it was exciting and enlightening, and, in a way, gave me a chance to revisit my childhood.

Sun Wu Kong, as depicted at a Beijing opera. Source: Wikipedia.