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1. Monkey King
4. Monkey Fist
美猴王 is the specific title for “Monkey King.”
A character made famous by the ancient novel Journey to the West.
It literally means “Handsome/Beautiful Monkey King.”
See Also: Monkey Fist | Drunken Monkey
猴王 is the short title for “Monkey King.” This can refer to the character made famous by the ancient novel Journey to the West.
This literally reads “Monkey King.” However, this title is open to interpretation and could be used for someone who is the boss of the primate exhibit at the zoo or certain characters in Chinese opera.
See Also: Monkey Fist | Drunken Monkey
醉猴 is the short title for Drunken Monkey (often used as a title for a style of martial arts or kung fu which mimics the movements of a drunk monkey).
This martial arts style was inspired by the novel, “Journey to the West.”
See Also: Monkey Fist
醉猴功夫 is the title for Drunken Monkey Kung Fu (Gong Fu).
The martial arts style was inspired by the novel, “Journey to the West.”
See Also: Monkey Fist
猴拳 literally means what you think, it's the “Monkey Fist” school of Kung Fu. A style that mimics the punches and movements of monkeys and apes.
Becoming popular during the Qing Dynasty, this style can trace its origins back to as early as the Song Dynasty. Some of the romance and popularity of this style comes from the novel “Journey to the West” which features the Monkey King and his fighting skills.
This novel and martial arts style has spawned a stream of Hong Kong movies featuring the Monkey King and other Kung Fu style variations such as “Drunken Monkey” and “Monkey Stealing Peaches” (a technique of disabling your opponent by grabbing and yanking on his testicles).
Note: This kind of makes sense in Korean Hanja and Japanese Kanji but probably unknown by all Koreans and Japanese except those who have an interest in this form of Kung Fu.
Martial arts term
猴子偷桃 is a martial arts term that I find hilarious. I thought Stephen Chow had made this up for his Monkey King movie. After some research, it turns out to be real.
This can be translated as “monkey stealing peaches” or “monkey steals the peach.” It refers to distracting an opponent with one hand and seizing his testicles with the other.
In colloquial Chinese speech, this can refer to grabbing somebody by the balls (without any martial arts technique to the grabbing).
Monkey King
悟空 is the short name or given name of Sun Wukong, the Monkey King, from the ancient Chinese novel Journey to the West.
This title is also known as the given name of the Monkey King in Japanese. This can also be Goku, short for Son Goku, a fictional character of the Dragon Ball Japanese manga series (also based loosely on the Monkey King).
Monkey King
孫悟空 is the name Sun Wukong, also known as the Monkey King. He is the main character with supernatural powers in the ancient Chinese novel Journey to the West.
This title is also known as the real name of the Monkey King in Japanese. This can also be the Son Goku, better known as simply Goku, a fictional character of the Dragon Ball Japanese manga series.
西遊記 is the original title of the novel Journey to the West.
Written during the Ming dynasty, this novel by Wu Cheng'en (吳承恩) is one of the four classic stories of Chinese literature.
Sometimes this book is titled, Pilgrimage to the West, Monkey King, or Magic Monkey.
Many movies and TV series depict or adapt portions of this story.