Have you heard of the story “Journey to the West”?
It used to be one of my favourite stories as a child. There have been many adaptations to films, dramas and cartoon and the story never gets old. My favourite version would be Hong Kong’s television series: Journey to the West (1996) starring Dicky Cheung, Kwong Wah, Wayne Lai and Evergreen Mak.
@ShuaiGuo / Pixabay
Check out this video told by Dan and Mike about the legendary character – Monkey King.
Do you like Chinese mythology?
Do you know which zodiac animal you are?
I will be writing a series of stories where I will talk about the twelve different Chinese zodiac animals. I will share some of my observations and fun facts about my friends and family that are born in those years.
Recap:
Before adapting to the twenty-four-hour clock in western culture, in Ancient China, they used to divide a day into twelve periods. Each period is about two hours long and is named with the twelve earthly branches. When talking about the twelve zodiac animals, you will see the earthly branches written with the animals. Its purpose serves as a numerical number and also tells the time and date of the Lunar Calendar.
@mamasoyfeo / Pexels
Monkey 申猴 (shēnhóu)
Monkey is the ninth animal in the twelve zodiacs.
Monkey (hóu) is associated with the ninth earthly branch (shēn) which is from 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm.
People who are born in the Year of the Monkey (2016, 2004, 1992, 1980, etc.) are known to be smart, curious, mischievous, crafty and talented. My dad is born in the Year of the Monkey and I can tell you that he is the most active old man I’ve seen in my life. My mom and I both think he must have ADHD because he is always just so hurried and can’t sit still. He loves to exercise and goes swimming every day. He will wash his car every other day. He is compassionate and loves to help others. He is ambitious, adventurous and also very irritable. There are three monkeys in my class this year, they were all born in 2004. The three of them are fresh out from high school and they are the youngest in my class. They are very creative and smart. Even though there is a larger age gap between them and the rest of our class, I think they are blending in very well with everyone else.