Wuzhiqi (Chinese :巫支祁) [lower-alpha 1] is a supernatural being in Chinese mythology popularly depicted as a horse-like aquatic demon and first described in the early 9th century.
Wuzhiqi (Chinese :巫支祁) [lower-alpha 1] is a supernatural being in Chinese mythology popularly depicted as a horse-like aquatic demon and first described in the early 9th century.
The earliest description of Wuzhiqi can be found in the early 9th century collection of stories from the Tang dynasty, Guoshi bu (國史補) by Li Zhao , which briefly tells of a fisherman in Chuzhou (楚州) who encounters a monkey demon with a black body and a white head in the Huai River. [2] Wuzhiqi is also described in the Song dynasty anthology Taiping guangji as a "monkey-like demon" residing in the Huai River; it is defeated by Yu the Great and imprisoned under Turtle Mountain (龜山) as part of his effort to control the Great Flood. [3] Wuzhiqi sometimes appears in the form of a woman, and has different names such as Guishan Shuimu and Sizhou Virgin.
A cast-iron statue depicting Wuzhiqi was gifted to the German artist Hanna Bekker vom Rath and later housed at the Museum of Asian Art in Berlin. Described as the "most intriguing and puzzling gift" to the museum, it was only identified in 2001 by University of Hawaii professor Poul Andersen. [4] Andersen also documented the emergence of Wuzhiqi-inspired cults in northern Anhui. [5]
A popular argument first forwarded by Huang Zhigang offers that the Journey to the West protagonist Sun Wukong was modeled after Wuzhiqi. [5] Anthony C. Yu writes in his unabridged translation of The Journey to the West that Wuzhiqi "has provided many scholars with a prototype of Sun Wukong" and that the author of Journey himself had "certainly" read of Wuzhiqi – in Chapter 66, it is referred to as the "Water Ape Great Sage" (水猿大聖) – but that Wuzhiqi and Sun Wukong are "kept quite distinct" in the novel. [6]
The Monkey King or Sun Wukong is a fictional character best known as one of the main players in the 16th-century Chinese novel Journey to the West, and many later stories and adaptations. In the novel, Sun Wukong is a monkey born from a stone who acquires supernatural powers through Taoist practices. After rebelling against heaven, he is imprisoned under a mountain by the Buddha. After five hundred years, he accompanies the monk Tang Sanzang (唐三藏) riding on the White Dragon Horse and two other disciples, Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing, on a journey to obtain Buddhist sutras from the West (India), where Buddha and his followers dwell.
Journey to the West is a Chinese novel published in the 16th century during the Ming dynasty and attributed to Wu Cheng'en. It is regarded as one of the greatest Classic Chinese Novels, and has been described as arguably the most popular literary work in East Asia. Arthur Waley's 1942 abridged translation, Monkey, is known in English-speaking countries.
Tang Sanzang is a Buddhist monk and pilgrim who is a central character in the 16th century novel Journey to the West by Wu Cheng'en. Tang Sanzang is based on the historical Tang dynasty monk Xuanzang.
Ruyi Jingu Bang (Chinese: 如意金箍棒; pinyin: Rúyì Jīngū Bàng; Wade–Giles: Ju2-yi4 Chin1-ku1-pang4), or simply Ruyi Bang or Jingu Bang, is the poetic name of a magical staff wielded by the immortal monkey Sun Wukong in the 16th-century classic Chinese novel Journey to the West. Anthony Yu translated the name simply as "The Compliant Golden-Hooped Rod," while W.J.F. Jenner translates it as the "As-You-Will Gold-Banded Cudgel."
Erlang Shen, also known as Erlang of Guankou and the Lord of Sichuan, is a Chinese god with a third truth-seeing eye in the middle of his forehead.
Princess Iron Fan is a character from the 16th century Chinese novel, Journey to the West. She is the wife of the Bull Demon King and mother of Red Boy. She is one of the most popular Journey to the West villains, alongside her husband the Bull Demon King, her son the Red Boy, and Baigujing.
Mount Huaguo or Flowers and Fruit Mountain, is a major area featured in the novel Journey to the West. A number of real-world locations have been connected with the Mount Huaguo, although the synonymous mountain in Lianyungang, Jiangsu is most commonly identified as its source of inspiration.
Ao Guang is the Dragon King of the East Sea in Chinese folklore. He featured prominently in different works including Fengshen Yanyi and Journey to the West.
Saint is a manhua by Hong Kong comics artist Khoo Fuk Lung. It follows the life and adventures of Sun Wukong, the monkey king from the 16th century novel Journey to the West. It was first published by Jade Dynasty and is licensed by Yuk Long Limited.
The Monkey King is a 2014 Hong Kong-Chinese action-fantasy film directed by Soi Cheang and starring Donnie Yen as the titular protagonist Sun Wukong. Yen also serves as the film's action director. The film co-stars Donald Chow, Aaron Kwok, Joe Chen and Peter Ho.
Bull Demon King, also translated as the Ox King and known as his self-proclaimed title the Great Sage Who Pacifies Heaven, is a fictional character from the 16th century novel Journey to the West. He is the estranged-husband of the Princess Iron Fan and father of Red Boy. He is a demon king originally-based in the "Palm leaf Cave/Grotto", up on "Jade Cloud Mountain", with his wife, before betraying his wife for a younger demoness, Princess Jade-Countenance, a female Huli jing, of the "Sky-Scraping Cave" on "Accumulated-Thunder Mountain".
Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons is a 2013 fantasy comedy film co-written and produced by Stephen Chow and co-directed by Chow and Derek Kwok. The movie was first announced in July 2011 and was released on February 10, 2013 in China. The film is a loose comedic re-interpretation of the 16th-century novel Journey to the West, a Chinese literary classic often believed to be written by Wu Cheng'en.
Gods and demons fiction or Shenmo fiction is a subgenre of Chinese fantasy fiction that revolves around the deities, immortals, demons and monsters of Chinese mythology. The term shenmo xiaoshuo, coined in the early 20th century by the writer and literary historian Lu Xun, literally means "gods and demons novel". Classical works of shenmo fiction include the novels Journey to the West and Investiture of the Gods.
Yubu, translated as Pace(s) of Yu or Step(s) of Yu, is the basic mystic dance step of religious Daoism. This ancient walking or dancing technique typically involves dragging one foot after another, and is explained in reference to the legendary Yu the Great, who became lame on one side of his body from exerting himself while establishing order in the world after the Great Flood. Daoist religions, especially during the Six Dynasties period (220–589), incorporated Yubu into rituals, such as the Bugang 步罡 "pace the Big Dipper", in which a Taoist priest would symbolically walk the nine stars of the Beidou 北斗 "Big Dipper" in order to acquire that constellation's supernatural energy.
The Weak River also known as the Weak Water or Ruoshui is an important feature in the mythical geography of Chinese literature, including novels and poetry over a course of over two millennia from the Warring States to early Han dynasty era poetry of the Chuci onward. The Weak River is one of the mythological rivers flowing near Kunlun, home of a Western Paradise. The Weak River flowed with "water" so lacking in specific gravity that even a feather would not float, thus being a protective barrier against the unworthy, who otherwise would profane the paradise on Kunlun, and perhaps even climb up to Heaven and disturb the deities and other inhabitants residing there. In the novel Journey to the West, the Weak Water River forms one of the obstacles the fictional version of the monk Xuanzang, the magic monkey Sun Wukong, and companions must cross over on their mission to fetch the Buddhist scriptures from India and return them to Tang China.
The Moving Sands, also known as the Flowing Sands, is an important feature in the mythological geography of Chinese literature, including novels and poetry over a course of over two millennia from the Warring States to early Han dynasty era poetry of the Chuci onward to the present. In his poem "Li Sao", author Qu Yuan describes an aerial crossing of the Moving Sands on a shamanic spiritual Journey to Kunlun. "Moving Sands forms one of the obstacles the fictional version of the monk Xuanzang and companions must cross over on their mission to fetch the Buddhist scriptures from India and return them to Tang China. In this story, Xuanzang recruits the former sand demon and eater-of-humans Sha Wujing who is living in Moving Sands as his third disciple. Sometimes the Moving Sands seem to depict drifting dunes or desert, sometimes a sand or quicksand-like river, in which case, in Chinese, it would be (Liúshā-hé.
Sangha, also known as the Great Sage of Sizhou, was an eminent Chinese monk who lived in the Tang dynasty. He was a highly venerated monk during the Tang and Song dynasties. The Great Sage of Sizhou is believed to be an avatar of the bodhisattva Guanyin (Avalokiteśvara).