"The monkey is a symbol of cleverness and vitality, and it is one of the best friends of human beings.'' Li Fan, a staff member of the Beijing Museum of Natural History.
The Spring Festival has ushered in the Year of Monkey.
The Beijing Museum of Natural History and the Beijing Zoo have created a number of activities on the theme of the monkey and primates in their own way to greet the New Year.
The Beijing Zoo will host a monkey culture fair, and open the whole science hall so that visitors can have a chance to learn interesting stories about monkeys and see the funny faces of some rare species of primates.
They will also be able to visit some 269 types of primates currently in the zoo, some of whom do not often come out to greet visitors.
As two gibbons in the zoo have just become mothers at the end of 2003, visitors will also be lucky to watch the gibbons dangling with their babies holding tightly around their waists.
"Two gibbons giving birth to babies is really exciting news, since it is the first time that the zoo has successfully mated the gibbons, who are always strict with choosing their mates,'' said zoo staffer Ye Mingxia.
Gibbon keepers said one of the gibbon mothers is 20 years old, rather old for the species, and she just became a new mother when she gave birth to a baby gibbon on January 6.
The zoo director, Wu Zhaozheng, said earlier this month that the month-long monkey culture fair was designed to spread knowledge and encourage public responsibility about caring for animals.
The organizers have especially designed an activity encouraging children to collect eight stamps on a brochure to win free gifts and tickets by visiting the zoo's various sections with monkey displays, said Yang Hua, vice-director of the zoo.
The zoo will also host a photography contest, hoping that children especially will focus the lens on monkeys and that the activity will recruit more animal lovers to visit.
Those under the age 13 who collect at least 20 signatures from people who vow to protect animals will be given the title of Animal Guard and will be invited to participate in various zoo activities in the future.
Meanwhile, the Beijing Museum of Natural History is also holding an exhibition entitled "Monkey Family.''
The Year of the Monkey ranks ninth in the 12-year rotation on the Chinese zodiac, which starts with rat, followed by ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, chicken, dog, and ends with pig.
"The monkey is a symbol of cleverness and vitality and it is one of the best friends of human beings,'' said Li Fan, a staff member of the museum.
On display are dozens of vivid recreations of monkey "playing'' in threes, and many delicate exhibition boards introducing some of the most rare species of monkeys remaining in the world.
Children can join the game of "Guess which type of monkey it is,'' which asks players to give the right species of the monkey with clues provided. Special prizes are offered for the winners and for a very lucky Year of the Monkey, said Li.
Many types of monkeys
For thousands of years, Chinese people have regarded the monkey as a symbol of good luck.
As "hou," the word for monkey in Chinese has the same pronunciation as the word for "duke,'' monkey images often appear as part of traditional decorations on windows, walls and clothing.
Becoming a duke, in a broader sense, simply means achieving success in life.
If a monkey is hanging a Chinese chop, or seal, on a maple tree, the picture can be literally read as "fenghou guayin'' or "taking the seal to become a duke.''
When a monkey sits on the back of a horse -- "mashang fenghou,'' it can mean "to become a duke very soon.''
The Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) novelist Wu Cheng'en (circa 1500-1582) undoubtedly played a great part in extending the popularity of the monkey with his classic work "Journey to the West.''
When the Monkey King appeared in the Jade Emperor's Court in Heaven, the Emperor tricked the disobedient monkey by conferring upon him the title "Bimawen,'' which appeared to mean "the one who protects horses from illness,'' but which really meant to "tie the monkey to the stable."
Indeed, it was not uncommon in ancient China to find a monkey tied to the stable. It was believed that the monkey would drive away evil, and also that he would keep even the wildest of horses under control.
Although the monkey is commonly regarded as being very clever, the Chinese also joke about its short-sightedness in the idiom "zhaosan musi,'' which means something like seeing four but accepting three.
It was said that an old man of the Warring States Period (475-221 BC) kept a group of monkeys. Every day he fed each monkey four chestnuts for breakfast and another four for supper.
Eventually, the old man couldn't afford it any more. So he asked the monkeys if he could feed them only three chestnuts in the morning and four at night.
The monkeys screeched, jumping up and down in fury.
Then the old man proposed four chestnuts in the morning, and three at night.
The monkeys were so happy to get four for breakfast that they overlooked the fact that were going to be short-changed in the evening.
Somehow, the idiom's meaning later changed into "playing the playboy,'' which also describes a characteristic of monkeys.
But generally speaking, Chinese people are very fond of monkeys. This has developed into a folk belief that people born in the Year of the Monkey will have better luck than those born in the Year of Goat, which is the preceding year.
As soon as January arrived this year, gynaecologists and obstetricians across China have been busy with increasing numbers of women in pregnancy who want their babies born in the "luckier'' year.
The doctors encountered a similar situation just before Spring Festival in the year 2000, which was the Year of Dragon, another "lucky'' year in the eyes of many Chinese.
(China Daily January 27, 2004)
