183 Beijing Operas - Gibbon - Number 239

Gibbon

Beijing Opera - "Birth of the Stone Monkey"

Gibbon with a red symbolic has a role in the opera "Birth of the Stone Monkey," adapted from an episode in "Pilgrimage to the West," that tells how Monkey Sun Wukong, or the Monkey King, was born. Gibbon is a wise old ape. He advises Monkey Sun Wukong to learn Taoism. Monkey goes to the Kunlun Mountains and there meets a supernatural being who teaches him the 72 metamorphoses and how to somersault through the clouds. He returns and strangles the Devil King who occupied his home in Flower-and-Fruit Mountain during his absence.