Zhang Jinlai, the most acclaimed actor of "Monkey King" in China, posted a photo of himself rehearsing for CCTV's opera show on Jan. 26, 2016. (Photo/Sina Weibo)
"If you want to know China, you need to read the novel 'Journey to the West'. And if you want to understand the Chinese better, you need to know the character Monkey King," Zhang Jinlai, a famed monkey king actor and a strong advocate for China's monkey culture, told Xinhua on Thursday.
Zhang, now 56 and better known as his stage name "Liu Xiao Ling Tong", is famous for his vivid, nuanced portrayal of a monkey character in the 30-year-old TV series "Journey to the West", which was adopted from one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature.
Many foreigners see the novel as a simple story of a monk making a trip to "the Western regions" with his three disciples namely Monkey, Pig and Friar Sand. However, what the novel conveys is much more than that, as their adventure mirrors a person's life, Zhang said.
"Everyone is a disciple embarking on a life journey, and has to surmount all sorts of difficulties before reaching his destination... In the novel, Monkey King is always persevering, optimistic, and unyielding," he added.
Everyone has a Monkey King in their heart, said the artist, who has devoted almost his entire life to promoting monkey culture at home and abroad.
Indeed, it may not be too hard for Westerners to have resonance with the TV adaptations of "Journey to the West", whose plot, more or less, resembles that of "Lord of the Rings".
Since the first hit in 1986, the series have been aired on TV for more than 3,000 times and have been watched around 6 billion times.
As the most recognized Monkey King in China, Zhang attributed his success to the merits of traditional Chinese opera, saying that "I have always said I am the happiest actor in China and even in the world. I bet that even those Hollywood stars do not dare to say this."
As China exerts an increasing influence on the world stage, its culture also projects a larger presence abroad, said Zhang.
Zhang arrived in New York to participate in a Thursday event called Fire Monkey related to this year's Chinese Spring Festival holiday season on Feb. 7-22, which is one of the many monkey-themed commercial events held here with the approach of the Lunar Chinese Year of the Monkey beginning on Feb. 8.
Zhang also directed and starred in Pepsi's latest micro movie released in late December of 2015, which tells the story of Zhang and his family and instantly made huge numbers of clicks.
"Such cooperation will promote the Pepsi brand and the Chinese culture as well," Zhang said, adding that he had several cooperation projects with the U.S. companies this year.
"What defines the China-U.S. relationship is not confrontation, but cooperation. And 2016 has been designated as the year of China-U.S. tourism," Zhang said, voicing hopes that the Chinese culture, including the character of Monkey King, could be more widely accepted.
