Sun Wu Kong!

Today is Sun Wu Kong's birthday!  On the lunar calendar, this is the first day after the end of Chinese New Year.  In Singapore, the day is celebrated quite festively at the temple in Tiong Bahru dedicated to Sun Wu Kong -- who may be better known as the Monkey King.

The Monkey King is a powerful and legendary character from one of China's great ancient novels, "Journey to the West" (or 西游记, xi you ji, in Chinese).  Having read the story, he is one one of my favorite literary characters ... a mixture of power, curiosity, and trouble-making.

Yesterday, I was walking through Tiong Bahru to visit a friend who lives in that neighborhood. My eye was caught by a large banner with a painting of the Monkey King on it.  I stopped for several moments to try and read the Chinese characters on the banner, and was delighted to find that the temple itself is called the 齐天宫.  This name means "Temple Equal to Heaven", and is derived from the name that the Monkey King gave to himself when he realized his powers and wanted a better title.  He called himself, "Great Sage Equal to Heaven" (齐天大圣).  Choosing this name greatly angered the gods in heaven, and they put the Monkey King on their watch-list... and eventually (after numerous other run-ins with this troublesome ways) the gods imprisoned Sun Wu Kong under a mountain for hundreds of years.

It is a wonderful story, and I've been a big fan for the past few years.  It was really nice to see a temple in Singapore dedicated to the Monkey King, and when I stopped in to ask a few questions, one lady working there told me to come back Today to join the procession in honor of the Monkey King's birthday.  So I stopped by today, and got these photos ... which I share in the slide show below.

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