We love the Monkey King. We grew up with the Monkey King.
For generations of children, from Beijing to New York, the irrepressible stone monkey has been as familiar as a bedtime story.
Yet anyone who has read the novel “Journey to the West” knows that, after decades of attempts, the mission of bringing the Monkey King to the screen remains unaccomplished.
Adaptation after adaptation has captured his acrobatics, his mischief, and his temper, but somehow missed his soul.
The Monkey King is not merely about a fighter, a warrior, or the rise of a rebellious commoner. His story is about innocence, rebellion, struggle, and growing up—the arc of a brash young creature learning, often painfully, who he is meant to be. Dig deeper into his journey, and you’ll find another, more profound layer of Monkey King wisdom, one that is, quite simply, life-changing.
So when I came across the introduction to Gan Jing World’s “Monkey King Adventure” series and watched its first episodes, it dawned on me that, at long last, someone might actually get the Monkey King right.
According to GJW+, Gan Jing World’s streaming platform, the “Monkey King Adventure” series “stays true to the original story and spirit of Journey to the West while reimagining its epic journey as a fun, magical adventure that children from all cultural backgrounds can understand, learn from, love, and share.”
This is the right call. In today’s entertainment landscape, it’s also a remarkably rare one.
In the opening episodes, we watch the stone monkey grapple with the ultimate question about life itself—one far heavier than any iron staff—and see how his search for an answer inspires him to leave the comfort of his mountain kingdom and set out on his journey.
It is a quiet, contemplative beginning for a hero best known for raising havoc, and it is exactly the right one.
Those scenes assured me that the journey in “Monkey King Adventure” will be inspiring and, yes, life-changing, especially for the next generation of viewers who will meet this mischievous immortal for the first time.
It is no coincidence that Gan Jing World, a platform dedicated to revitalizing traditional connections, can present the true spirit of Journey to the West, something far better-funded studios in China have failed to do.
To understand why, we must first ask a more uncomfortable question: Why has it been so hard to produce a faithful animated series about the Monkey King?
The 1999 animated Monkey King series produced by China Central Television—the Chinese regime’s state-run national broadcaster—was long regarded as an acceptable adaptation for English-speaking audiences. Unfortunately, that series was incomplete, spiritless, and devoid, and riddled with distortion.
I wasn’t surprised by this—not in the least.
“Romance of the Three Kingdoms,” “All Men Are Brothers,” “Journey to the West,” and “The Story of the Stone” are revered as China’s “Four Great Classical Novels.” They are required reading for any educated Chinese person, much as Shakespeare is for the English-speaking world. Of the four, “Journey to the West” stands apart: it is a tale of redemption, friendship, heroism, faith, and spiritual enlightenment.
At its core, “Journey to the West” is a story of character improvement and spiritual cultivation. Each of the pilgrims’ 81 tribulations is not merely a demon to be vanquished but a test of the heart—of patience, loyalty, and faith.
By now, the point should be clear: the true spirit of “Journey to the West” is a natural enemy of China’s atheist regime.
No wonder audiences were handed the wrong Monkey King. The Chinese regime deliberately portrayed him as a fighter, a warrior, and an anti-oppression hero, instead of revealing his fantastical, spiritual nature.
In the eyes of the communist regime, he’s just another monkey.
Consider one scene from the final episode of the 1999 series. When the pilgrims realize the scriptures they’ve retrieved are blank, the monkey flies into a rage, and Tang Monk has to calm him down. After 14 years on the road and 81 ordeals, the hero has apparently learned nothing at all.
That’s what it is: a furious monkey from beginning to end.
What a joke—and what a betrayal of one of the world’s great spiritual epics!
In Gan Jing World’s series, I guarantee you will find out what the monkey really did and come to understand why he is called “King.”
“Monkey King Adventure” not only captures the true spirit of Journey to the West; it also gives us a Monkey King reborn from the ashes—and, with him, a beloved classic finally restored to its rightful glory for a new generation.
