Here's a link to digital Beijing - an interactive map linking all the roads and shops, but it's in Chinese. There's also an English version, and "Bird's View" with what looks like DIgital Globe Quickbird images of the entire city. Posted for those of you who know Beijing well and are regularly amazed by how much the city has changed in the past few years.
Digital Beijing

There are several opera houses in Beijing dedicated to the unique art form known as Beijing Opera, the sense of which is communicated wonderfully in the movie, Shadow Magic.


Beijing opera character of Monkey

This monkey is likely the monkey in Monkey King Makes Havoc in Heaven, which is based on the important novel Journey to the West. (Read it on-line HERE!) If you've read the novel, seeing Monkey playing with the very special peaches is a powerful image indeed. I guess his magic cudgel is out of sight over is right ear.

There are many famous operas, including Qin Xianglian, the Gathering of Heroes, Riverside pavilion, King Xiang Yu Bids Farewell to His Concubine, Liu Bei marries the Young Sister of Sun Quan, Yang Silang Pays Homage to His Mother, The Phoenix Returns to Her Nest, and Wild Boar Forest.



Homework (only for those who read the novel): What boast finally got Monkey in real trouble?

The monkey King has his own web site.. even though it's only in Chinese.

The gist of the web site is that there is a huge movement on to make hm the official mascot of the 2008 Olympic games.

An early morning stroll through Zhongshan Park, at the southwest corner of the Forbidden City, is a wonderful Beijing experience. Mist, birds, people dancing to ballroom music, people singing in the Beijing Opera style, and grandparents doing Tai Chi.

Unexpected amidst the rockeries and gardens is this pavillion:


Seer Photo Copyright (c) 2002

and its exuberant international contents:


Seer Photo Copyright (c) 2002

Roof of pavillion is at placemarked location.

Sun Wukong, the Chinese name for the Monkey King, was imprisoned in a stone in the Five Phase Mountains after boasting he could jump out of Buddha's palm - whose fingers then grow to the size of the five sacred mountains at different ends of the earth. The lesson he learns is that there is no part of the universe outside the Buddha's compass. Of course it's not the only boast he makes, and many land him in hot water.



The tale of the Journey to the West, which I read in Chinese about ten years ago (with Anthony Yu's excellent English translation near at hand), is a mythologized account of a spiritual journey, not unlike Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, but much more entertaining, and based on the actual 16 year journey of the Chinese monk Xuan Sanzang (aka Tripitika or the Three Baskets of the Pali Buddhist Canon) to India to retrieve the Buddhist scriptures and translate them into Chinese during the Tang Dynasty. The historical traveller left Dunhuang in 629 AD and returned 16 years later with 657 items of Buddhist scriptures, of which he made translations of 47, totalling 1337 volumes. Much of his journey through now-vanished Buddhist kingdoms in Central Asia can be traced through medium-resolution areas in Earthviewer to the north and west of Tibet.

It's interesting you should mention this rascally character, Seer, since I have just returned from a Taoist-Buddhist retreat, and was given the task of memorizing the Heart Sutra in the Chinese translation written by Xuan Sanzang after his journey. In the fictionalized Journey to the West, the Heart Sutra is given to Xuan Sanzang by the Zen Master of Pagoda Mountain at the beginning of his journey.

I believe all journeys are spiritual voyages, and few people return unchanged if they travel with their minds open and their feet on the ground.

Now then, Seer, your homework is to tell us what Monkey's name, Sun Wukong, means and why it is closely linked to the Heart Sutra.

Here's a link to an illustrated version of the novel on the web.

2004 Canadian Commemorative Stamp Set

Now then, Seer, your homework is to tell us what Monkey's name, Sun Wukong, means and why it is closely linked to the Heart Sutra.

Sun Wukong means "aware of emptiness", which in the novel's value system, tells us of one awakened to the idea that what we often see as real, substantial, and valuable is in fact less than nothing. Less, that is, in the sense that not only are such things without lasting merit, but that time and energy spent seeking and cherishing them is lost time that could have been invested in matters of true value, that might direct one's path, and enhance the meaning of life. Much the same way that a starving person, gorging themselves on mushrooms would be doing less than feeding themselves.

The Heart Sutra posits that one's mental and physical existence is empty of both nature and essence; that this emptiness is the same as form and thus is the same reality that we sense; that this emptiness does not undermine our world, but rather is a "positive" emptiness that defines it. "I recognize you by your shadow", "The party was not the same without you", "After my great loss I was bitterly lonely, and being so alone was forced to reflect; in my sad reflection I found peace and understanding, which has lead to unshakable calm and true joy. Did I have loss or gain? If it was both, and the first causes the second, then is there loss or gain?"

Do I pass?

Please pardon my delay in replying. Mrs. Seer and I just returned from our Sunday afternoon lunch and SCRABBLE picnic at the placemarked location.

Wow!

Hint for tourists: If you buy a Monkey King doll for your kids, make sure the little "toothpick" over his ear is not detachable or you could have big troubles at home.

You win, Seer. Blossom Hill for 18 points. Bodhisattva for 20.
Or if you're of another religious persuasion, you can try Scrabble Prayer

And the seegar goes to... the monkey!

Looks like the royal simian is indeed the winner of the 2008 auspicious object (aka mascot) contest.

::: MORE INFO ::: here.

Quote:

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People born in the year of monkey are usually thought to be as clever and quick-witted as monkeys. For the 0.12 billion Chinese born in the year of monkey, everyone of them will fully support the suggestion to take Monkey King as the auspicious object, since monkey is a "God of their year" and Monkey King is a "spokesman" of their wisdom and brightness.

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OK.. I guess everyone needs their heroes..

Gene Yang (misteryang@yahoo.com) has drawn a fabulous interpretation of the characters in Journey to the West. I especially like the 'attitude' that they display in this image:


Copyright (c) Gene Yang. Gene Yang's remarkable vision of the four companions.

Friar Sand is perfect, Monkey is perfect. They whole thing is simply great!