Classical Chinese novels of the Monkey King are extremely popular among the Asian culture. The Monkey King is known to be tremendously clever; he knows many magic tricks and gong fu which helps him fight evil. Being able to transform himself to animals and insects has been his technique to conquer many fights. Growing up watching the Monkey King and many other popular shows in China, men were always shown to be the hero, my drawing of the famous Monkey King as a woman is to illustrate that women are also able to be the hero of the stories. Women do not have to be helpless. In addition, having woman play a male role is also significant because in traditional Chinese opera women were never allow to play the characters on stage. It is forbidden and against tradition for a woman to play any roles even women roles. This is why I chose to paint her face as the Monkey King in ancient Chinese opera mask.
