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Activity

The Monkey King

Outcome : Students demonstrate mastery of narrative content and develop vocabulary by supplying words deleted from a text of "The Monkey King" story and through an expository writing activity summarizing the "Monkey King" story. Includes a shadow puppet extension activity.

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The Monkey King, 1977. By Guan Liang (Chinese, 1900-1986). Hanging Scroll, ink and colors on paper. Gift of the Jack Anderson Collection, 1994.116.

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Label: The subject of this painting is taken from Record of a Journey to the West, a tale relating the adventures of the Chinese monk Xuanzang and his three disciples, Sandy, and Pigsy. The Monkey King’ s mischievous personality and superhuman powers make him one of the best-loved characters in Chinese popular, "The Monkey King Thrice Defeating the Demon” is one of the many episodes that have been dramatized in opera. The character is a perfect for the display of an actor’ s martial and acrobatic abilities. This painting depicts the climax of a dramatic scene in which the Monkey King is attacking the white-boned in order to rescue his master. The actor’ s face is painted red and white. Leaping high into the air and holding in his upraised arms his magic weapon, he is ready to pounce on the enemy. The white-boned who had taken the disguises of a young girl, old woman, and old man to lure the monk Xuanzang its trap— is not in the picture. About the Artist: The artist Guan Liang was born in Guangdong province in southern China and was among the first wave of Chinese artists to travel abroad for study. During his early period, Guan did mostly oil painting in the impressionist and Fauvist styles. In the 1940s he began to depict scenes from traditional Chinese opera using brush and ink. He excelled in lively and vivid renditions of the opera characters. Inscribed by the artist: Attacking the White-boned Demon three times at the request of Comrade Xiaoxian. Guan Liang during the Spring Festival of 1977.
Label: The hat and robe worn by this figure indicate that he represents a civilian official of the Qing dynasty court.
Label: The subject of this painting is taken from Record of a Journey to the West, a tale relating the adventures of the Chinese monk Xuanzang and his three disciples, Sandy, and Pigsy. The Monkey King’ s mischievous personality and superhuman powers make him one of the best-loved characters in Chinese popular, "The Monkey King Thrice Defeating the Demon” is one of the many episodes that have been dramatized in opera. The character is a perfect for the display of an actor’ s martial and acrobatic abilities. This painting depicts the climax of a dramatic scene in which the Monkey King is attacking the white-boned in order to rescue his master. The actor’ s face is painted red and white. Leaping high into the air and holding in his upraised arms his magic weapon, he is ready to pounce on the enemy. The white-boned who had taken the disguises of a young girl, old woman, and old man to lure the monk Xuanzang its trap— is not in the picture. About the Artist: The artist Guan Liang was born in Guangdong province in southern China and was among the first wave of Chinese artists to travel abroad for study. During his early period, Guan did mostly oil painting in the impressionist and Fauvist styles. In the 1940s he began to depict scenes from traditional Chinese opera using brush and ink. He excelled in lively and vivid renditions of the opera characters. Inscribed by the artist: Attacking the White-boned Demon three times at the request of Comrade Xiaoxian. Guan Liang during the Spring Festival of 1977.
Label: The hat and robe worn by this figure indicate that he represents a civilian official of the Qing dynasty court.
 
Standards (California Department of Education): History/Social Science: 7.3.1 Describe the reunification of China under the Tang dynasty and reasons for the spread of Buddhism in Tang China, Korea, and Japan; English/Language Arts: 7.1.0 Word Analysis, Fluency, and Systematic Vocabulary Development; 7.3.0 Literary Response and Analysis
 
Materials: “Cloze” Activity Downloads (see above): A1: Story Background for Cloze Activities;  A2: Ji-Li Jiang Cloze Handout; A3: Ji-Li Jiang Cloze Key; A4: David Kherdian Cloze Handout; A5: David Kherdian Cloze Key; Expository Writing Downloads (see above): B1. Instructions; B2. Rubric; B3. Student Sample; Story Analysis Worksheets; C1. Analysis Handout; C2. Analysis Key; Shadow Puppet Extension Downloads (see above): D. Hands-on Visual and Performing Arts Extension Activity: Shadow Puppets; Artworks (see “Related Resources” below)
 
Overview: One of the greatest contributors to the spread of Buddhism in Tang (618–906) dynasty of China was the traveler, scholar, monk, and translator Xuanzang. The life of Xuanzang is also a colorful example of Tang interaction with foreign cultures and the source of folk legends, literature, art, and performance right up to the present day.

Early in the Tang dynasty the young Chinese monk traveled over 10,000 miles to India and back in order to study with Buddhist masters and bring back Sanskrit sutras containing Buddhist teachings to China. His travels took him across incredibly dangerous and rugged terrain along the Silk Road through what is now Afghanistan, through much of India, and back. His journey lasted fourteen years and he returned to China with 657 scrolls, many Buddhist relics, and a knowledge of Sanskrit that would allow him to become an important translator of Buddhist texts into Chinese. But in addition to contributing to the spread of Buddhism in China, the stories of his exotic travels through dangerous and foreign territory fired the popular imagination.

He chronicled his adventures abroad in a travelogue published in 646 which inspired popular legends, and in the Ming dynasty was mythologized in the classical novel, Journey to the West. In the Ming novel, Xuanzang is protected on his pilgrimage by three disciples and a magical horse. The disciples and horse are all minor deities sent on the pilgrimage by the compassionate bodhisattva Guanyin (Indian: Avalokiteshvara) to atone for various crimes in Heaven. All of these characters have continued to find life in art and performance throughout East Asia. The most popular of the disciples, Monkey or Sun Wu Kong, continues to be an important folk hero in Chinese opera and popular culture including Japanese manga, video games, and cartoons.

This unit integrates the mythologized story of Monkey’s adventures with Xuanzang into the Language Arts curriculum using the two locally-available inexpensive texts below:

Jiang, Ji-Li. The Magical Monkey King: Mischief in Heaven. Fremont: Shen’s Books, 2004.
Kherdian, David. Monkey: A Journey to the West. Boston: Shambhala, 2000.

Includes a fine arts extension with a hands-on puppet project (see “Downloads” above).

Procedure:

  1. Distribute the Story Background for Cloze Activity and have students read aloud in class
  2. Distrubute the Ji-Li Jiang Cloze Handout to students and have them complete it either in class or as a take-home assignment
  3. Go over the answers to the Ji-Li Jiang Cloze Handout in class
  4. Distribute the Expository Writing Assignment and have students complete as a take-home assignment

Extension:
See: Chinese Shadow Puppets Extension (above)

Related Resources