Last updated: 12-10-2021
The brief Tang-era tale “A Supplement to Jiang Zong’s Biography of a White Ape” (Bu Jiang Zong Baiyuan Zhuan, 補江總白猿傳, c. late 7th-century) tells how the beautiful young wife of General Ouyang He (歐陽紇, 538–570) is kidnapped by a seemingly invisible force while he is engaged in conquering minority groups of the south lands. The general and his men scour the surrounding area for hundreds of miles before discovering a mountain where she and other women are being kept by a magic white ape (baiyuan, 白猿) (fig. 1). The captives caution that his soldiers are no match for the powerful primate, and so the ladies devise a plan to get him drunk and incapacitate him long enough for a killing blow to be dealt. With their help, the general manages to fall the beast with a well-placed sword strike below the navel, his only weak spot. Before dying, the ape reveals the general’s wife is pregnant and begs him not to kill the child. Ouyang subsequently returns to the north with his wife, the other women, and the monster’s priceless treasures. The tale ends with the birth of an unnamed son a year later.
Fig. 1 – A modern drawing of the white ape and General Ouyang He’s wife by Japanese artist Natsuki Sumeragi (皇名月) (larger version). Original image found here. The silken ropes around his wrists refer to those intertwined with hemp and triple-tied to ensure that he can’t break free in the story.
I. Historical background
Chen (1998) explains the original Biography of a White Ape story, purportedly supplemented by the above tale, [1] never existed. The Supplement is actually a standalone piece anonymously published to slander the historical scholar Ouyang Xun (歐陽詢, 557–641), who was known for his legendary monkey-like ugliness and almost supernatural intellect. The tale implies that he was the unnatural offspring of the general’s wife and the magic white ape (p. 76-79).
These mischievous simian spirits are known for kidnapping young maidens in tales from the Han to the Song (fig. 2). The mythical creature is based on the Gibbon (fig. 3), a small, long-armed, arboreal ape present in East and Southeast Asia (see Gulik, 1967).
Fig. 2 – A Han-era stone tomb rubbing showing a sword-wielding hero striking at a fleeing white ape (center). A woman can be seen held captive in a teardrop-shaped cave (left). The hero is followed by an assistant beating a gong (right) (larger version). From Wu, 1987, p. 88. Fig. 3 – A woodblock print of a “white ape” or Gibbon from a Ming version of the Shanhai Jing (larger version).
II. Parallels with Sun Wukong
The story’s unnamed primate antagonist shares many surprising similarities with Sun Wukong. Both:
- Are supernatural primates possessed of human speech.
- Are one thousand-year-old practitioners of longevity arts.
- Are masters of Daoist magic with the ability to fly and change their appearance.
- Are warriors capable of single-handedly defeating an army.
- Have a fondness for armed martial arts.
- Have an iron-hard, nigh-invulnerable body immune to most efforts to harm them.
- Have eyes that flash like lightning.
- Live in verdant mountain paradises (like Flower Fruit Mountain).
- Reside in a caves with stone furniture (like the Water Curtain Cave).
The character and his home appear to be an early model for the Monkey King, his abilities, and Flower Fruit Mountain.
III. Translation
Chen (1998) provides a complete translation of the brief tale, along with an informative translator’s introduction. The following PDF was put together from smartphone photos as I don’t currently have access to a scanner.
IV. Analysis
Chen (2003/2004) followed up his translation with a detailed analysis of the story. The PDF was located freely on the internet.
Disclaimer
These papers have been posted for educational purposes. No malicious copyright infringement is intended. Please support the official release.
Update: 12-10-21
I’ve just posted a piece about a folk Taoist white ape god, which is connected to the tradition presented in this article.
Notes
1) A supplement (bu, 補) is an addendum to an existing body of work, sort of like modern fan fiction. See, for example, A Supplement to the Journey to the West (1640).
Sources
Chen, J. (1998). A supplement to Jiang Zong’s biography of a white ape. Renditions, 49, pp. 76-85.
Chen, J. (2003/2004). Revisiting the yingshe mode of representation in “Supplement to Jiang Zong’s biography of a white ape”. Oriens Extremus, 44, pp. 155-178.
Gulik, R. H. (1967). The gibbon in China: An essay in Chinese animal lore. Leiden: Brill.
Wu, H. (1987). The earliest pictorial representations of ape tales: An interdisciplinary study of early Chinese narrative art and literature. T’oung Pao LXXIII, pp. 86-112.