This monkey is Chinese but has plenty of desi connections. Journey to the West was a popular TV series adapted from the Chinese novel by Wu Cheng’en. Apparently, the dubbed versison of this TV series was quite popular in the west in the 70s and 80s. The main character of this novel/TV show the Monkey King (or Sūn Wùkōng) drew inspiration from our very own macaca, Hanuman.

His primary weapon is the rúyì-jīngū-bàng (“will-following golden-banded staff”), which he can shrink down to the size of a needle and keep behind his ear, as well as expand it to gigantic proportions (hence the “will-following” part of the name). The staff, originally a pillar supporting the undersea palace of the East Sea Dragon King, weighs 13,500 pounds, which he pulled out of its support and swung with ease. The Dragon King, not wanting him to cause any trouble, also gave him a suit of golden armor. These gifts, combined with his devouring of the peaches of immortality and three jars of immortality pills while in Heaven, plus his ordeal in the eight-trigram brazier of Lao Tzu (which gave him a steel-hard body and fiery golden eyes), makes Wukong the strongest member by far of the pilgrimage. Besides these abilities, he can also pull hairs from his body and blow on them to transform them into whatever he wishes (usually clones of himself to gain a numerical advantage in battle). Although he has mastered seventy-two methods of transformations, it does not mean that he is restricted to seventy-two different forms. He can also do a jīndǒuyún (“cloud somersault”), enabling him to travel vast distances in a single leap. Wukong uses his talents to fight demons and play pranks.

Video of the Monkey King’s abilities below:

Apparently, the iPhone now has a new game called Sun Wu Kong Warrior, which features the Monkey King. [Pocket Gamer]

Obviously, a iPhone game featuring Hanuman (and the subsequent Rajan Zed protest) is not out of the realm of possibility.

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