The Monkey King for a New Generation
PEN WORLD|June 2022
The Monkey King is the oldest Chinese superhero. He was tasked along with the monk Tripitaka to travel west and learn things that would help "save" China, essentially a journey of Buddhist discovery.
JERRY MA
The Monkey King for a New Generation

Monkey is a god of mischief so he wears a headpiece that tightens every time he has impure thoughts.

In my version, I wanted to update the story to make it more relatable to Asian youth today. Rather than travel from China to India, 1 have them traveling west from Chinatown New York to Chinatown San Francisco. Rather than choose what armor to wear, he chooses which pair of sneakers to wear. It's a fun, updated, urban twist on the classic Chinese mythos.

This story is from the June 2022 edition of PEN WORLD.

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This story is from the June 2022 edition of PEN WORLD.

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