Who is the Monkey King?

The specter at the heart of the epic journey of The Forbidden Kingdom is Sun Wu Kong, the legendary Monkey King, imprisoned by the Jade Warlord.

It’s a story every child in East Asia knows. The bodhisattva Guan Yin sends Tang Dynasty monk Tripitaka on an epic journey west to bring the Buddhist scriptures from India to China. Three supernatural guardians protect him along the way: Friar Sand; Pigsy; and, of course, the one-and-only Monkey King, Sun Wu Kong, the self-proclaimed “Great Sage Equal to Heaven”.

Read more … and find a special surprise (SPOILER ALERT!) below the cut…

YesAsia.com posted an awesome story on the Monkey King and his journey through culture, encompassing literature, opera, cartoons, movies, and onto The Forbidden Kingdom!

The four travelers encounter an endless assortment of demons and monsters, all with an appetite for Tripitaka’s dharma-enriched flesh which is said to bring immortality if consumed. The friar and the pig talk big, but prove pretty useless in a pinch. Time and again it falls to Sun Wu Kong to save the day with his mix of magic powers and razor wit, which the Monkey King uses to make monkeys out of his imposing adversaries.

From this simple premise sprang one of the most popular and enduring tales of world literature, Journey to the West. Attributed to the 16th-century author Wu Cheng’en, this massive Ming Dynasty novel represents the culmination of centuries of stories about real-life seventh-century monk Xuan Zang’s journey to India. What began as a pious account of one man’s 17-year pilgrimage to the Buddhist holy land gradually evolved into a ribald and satiric distillation of Chinese folk legends and Buddhist morality tales. The emphasis shifted from the erstwhile monk – now portrayed as something of a dimwitted fop – to his fantastic companions, in particular the crafty and ever-confident Monkey King. It was inevitable that Sun Wu Kong would ultimately usurp his master’s position as the central focus of the legend. With his talent for disguise and deception, the Monkey King is China’s archetypal trickster figure, who rightly takes his place on the stage of world mythology right next to Odysseus, Loki, Robin Hood, Bugs Bunny, and other everlasting icons of cunning and guile.

Journey to the West not only has the distinction of being one of “The Four Great Novels of China” (alongside Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Water Margin, and Dream of the Red Chamber), it has also enjoyed a long and prolific history in the performing arts. Opera versions of the more famous chapters of the novel have been popular favorites for centuries. Thus Journey to the West made an obvious and easy transition from the opera stage to the movie screen, where the legend attained even greater heights of popularity.

Read YesAsia’s awesome look at the movies inspired by the Monkey King here:‘Monkey Movie Magic!

SPOILER ALERT!

Pics of Jet Li’s embodiment of the Monkey King have been floating around the nets for a while, and with one week to go before release, we’re posting them here! Don’t scroll down if you want to wait to see him in action!

SPOILERS BELOW!

SPOILERS BELOW!

A ‘BEFORE’ PICTURE FOR MORE SPOILER SPACE…

LAST WARNING…

SO BE IT!!

MONKEY KING MAGIC…

Jet Li as the Monkey King, wielding his magic bo staff!

The Monkey King and the Jade Warlord (Collin Chou) …

Jackie Chan and Jet Li, in Monkey King makeup, on the set.

More can be seen at Mingxingyao but since there’s a green screen in the background, the shots probably won’t look the same on screen!

SEVEN DAYS TO GO!