· Bai Huawen ·

Director of the Academic Committee of Chinese Folk Literature Association.
Professor of the Department of Information Management, Beijing University

A deep impression of "Monkey King" among people in the World

"Monkey King", to be the auspicious object of the 2008 Olympics, is a revolutionary action.
　　First I agree with the revolutionary action that Lianyungang recommends "Monkey King" as the auspicious object of the 2008 Olympic Games. Why is it a revolutionary action? I think it is totally different from all the former auspicious objects. Because instead of being a figure in literature, all of the former auspicious objects are animals in certain regions without any cultural connotation.
　
"Monkey King", a "Chinese" stone monkey derived from the magic monkey of India, is of kinship with Chinese stone monkey.
　　No literary figure originates from a single source. There are three hypotheses about the origin of "Monkey King": Some scholars (Hu Shizhi as the representative) believed "Monkey King" originated from Harluman stone monkey in India. Some scholars ( Lu Xun as the representative)consider that "Monkey King" was derived from the old Chinese myth, i.e. "Wuzhiqi"stone monkey（in Jiangsu Province）. Supporters of another hypothesis ( such as my teacher Ji Xianlin as the representative) propose "hybrid hypothesis", which supposes "Monkey King" a " half-breed" derived from the magic monkey of India, but of kinship with Chinese stone monkey, i.e. a spirit with monkey appearance and magical power, who dares to fight for the justice. It is my understanding that in Ji's view, "Monkey King" was a creation by Chinese, a product of the splendid culture in the prosperous feudalistic society, a lovely Chinese magic monkey with the sense of justice, as well as an optimistic and tenacious magic monkey who dares to rebel against evils.

"Monkey King", a founder of sports
　　"Monkey King" has become a brilliant image that cannot be obliterated in the history of literature in the world. We ought to take "Monkey King" as the auspicious object because of its cultural implications. It is regrettable for a Chinese not to regard "Monkey King" as the auspicious object, especially at such a grand gathering as the Olympic Games. Now I recommend a fiction named《Mist-shrouded Yunshan Mountain》written by Geng Xiaodi, living for years in Beijing. The book was written in the early 1940s. The author tells us a story: At that time, there was no achievement in the physical education of China. Therefore, the Jade Emperor sent Monkey King, Monk Bajie and Monk Shaseng to promote the advancement of Chinese athletics in the human world. They decided to start with universities, i.e. participating in the sports meet at Beijing University. Monkey King took part in high jump, and he jumped as high as he wanted. When attending the competition of throwing javelin, shot and discus, Monk Bajie threw the discus into the auditorium and hurt an audience's leg. Afterwards, the injured audience said that if Monk Bajie could make achievements, he would not mind having the bone set in his broken leg. Monk Bajie attended running competition and spoiled the sensitivity of the film, hence shocking the world. Therefore, foreign experts suggested hemanalysis for them. As a result, Monkey King had monkey blood, Monk Bajie had pig blood whereas Monk Shaseng's blood type was not clear. So experts prepared to examine their parents. Knowing this, Monk Bajie became worried, because pigs did not have parents. Monkey King said I could produce three couples with a fine hair. When they were tested again, all were of monkey blood……The Jade Emperor said that the task had been finished, and then summoned them back to the Heaven. The fiction reflects Chinese people's longing for and expectation of prosperity of China in the early 1940s when Chinese were called "The sick man in eastern Asia". So, "Monkey King" is a founder of sports.

"Monkey King", the product of flourishing ages
　　Monk Tangshen and other monks sought for Buddhist scriptures in India at the time of Zhengguan reign, a prosperous age in the Tang Dynasty. They brought Buddhist scriptures to China as well as the "Legendary Harluman", from which Monkey King was derived. So "Monkey King" is the product of flourishing ages.

（fin）

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