Fabled Monkey King's 'tomb' discovered
(China Daily)
Updated: 2005-01-18 09:05

A "tomb" of the legendary Monkey King and his brother has been found on a mountain peak in Shunchang County, Fujian Province.

Examination of the "tomb" in a temple on the highest peak of Baoshan Mountain dates it to between the late Yuan (1271-1368) and early Ming (1368-1644) period.

The temple covers about 18 square metres and the tomb is 2.9 metres wide and 1.3 metres deep.

Two headstones in front of the "tomb" bear the carved titles of the Monkey King and his brother in regular script.

Wang Yimin, curator of the local museum explained that the Monkey King has two sisters and two brothers in an earlier story about a Tang monk's journey to India in search of Buddhist Sutras.

But in the "Journey to the West," written by Wu Cheng'en (1330-1400) later, Monkey King had integrated all the magic powers of his brothers and sisters into himself, reports the Fuzhou channel of xinhuanet.com.

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