Monkey King and the Ox

We went to see "Kung Fu Panda 3" and realized that Kai is the antagonist. Interestingly, in "Journey to the West", Monkey King and Ox were used to be sworn brothers before the Ox became Bull Demon King. Below are the pictures of Kai, Bull Demon King's statue near Flaming Mountains (火焰山) near Turpan (we passed the mountains during our silk road trip), and a classical decorated painting in the Summer Palace in Beijing.

西遊記(Journey to the West) is a Chinese novel published in the 16th century. It is one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature. Monkey King (Sun Wukong) is the main character in the novel who, after rebelling against heaven and being imprisoned under a mountain by the Buddha, accompanies a monk on a journey to retrieve Buddhist sutras from Central Asia and India. He is a skilled fighter capable of fighting all goblins, demons and monsters away on the road (read lyrics below). Below is an interesting video mix: "The year of Monkey from White House."

To watch longer video (11:45 min), Please click here.
Above, the first song 通天大道寬又闊(Avenue of Babel, wide and broad) is an opening music from Chinese classic television series “journey to the west” sequel (2000). Click to see the Opening Theme of original TV series (I used some clips in my New Year video shown below). Below is the beginning lyrics with translation of the song.

Captured a few goblins

Subdued a few demons

Why there are so many monsters

Mind my cudgel

You monsters are scared out of your wits

Deities tremble, ghosts quiver

All kinds of evil spirits run for their lives

Captured a few goblins

Subdued a few demons

Why there are so many monsters

Mind my cudgel

You monsters are scared out of your wits

Deities tremble, ghosts quiver

All kinds of evil spirits run for their lives

The Year of Monkey 2016 猴年快樂!

The year of monkey is almost here (Feb. 8). I made a greeting video which includes animated and real monkeys and Sun Wukong. It is uploaded in Vimeo because it is blocked in Youtube.


Why Cat is not in the zodiac
An ancient story tells that Cat and Rat were the worst swimmers in animal kingdom. They had to cross a river to reach the other shore. The years on the calendar would be named for each animal in the order they arrived. Cat and Rat decided that the best and fastest way to cross the river was to hop on the back of Ox. Midway across the river, Rat pushed Cat into the water. Then as Ox neared the other side, Rat jumped ahead and reached the shore first. So he claimed first place in the competition and the zodiac. Ox was named the 2nd animal in the zodiac. From that day on, Cat hates Rat and chases it all the time.

Kung Fu Panda 3 3D movie was released on Jan. 29. When Po's long-lost panda father suddenly reappears, the reunited duo travels to a secret panda paradise to meet scores of hilarious new panda characters. But when the supernatural villain Kai begins to sweep across China defeating all the kung fu masters, Po must do the impossible—learn to train a village full of his fun-loving, clumsy brethren to become the ultimate band of Kung Fu Pandas!