journeytothewestresearch:

How Many Humans has Sun Wukong Killed?

Someone on Tumblr recently asked me if I knew how many monsters, spirits, and humans that Sun Wukong kills throughout Journey to the West (Xiyouji, 西遊記, 1592). But since he’s a “hyper murder monkey” (fig. 1), this is impossible to quantify without an overly extensive survey of the book. However, the task becomes far more manageable if narrowed down to just humans. I recall several instances in the first half of the book:

1. Ch. 14 - 6 robbers
2. Ch. 27 - Unknown (supposedly eaten by Monkey in his youth)
3. Ch. 28 - 1,000-plus hunters
4. Ch. 44 - 2 Daoists
5. Ch. 46 - 1 civil official
6. Ch. 56 - 2 bandit chiefs, 1 unfilial son, and 20-ish bandits

Total = Over 1,030 people!

I’ve surely missed a few examples in the latter half of the book. But I’ll update this list in the future if anything else pops up.

For cited quotes of each kill, see my article below.

How Many Humans Does Sun Wukong Kill in Journey to the West?

Someone on Tumblr recently asked me if I knew how many monsters, spirits, and humans that Sun Wukong kills throughout Journey to the West (X

Journey to the West Research

Fig. 1 - The story of the hyper murder monkey by @FlorkOfCows.