Who Is the Jade Emperor (Yuhuang Dadi)?
The supreme god who rules Heaven
The Jade Emperor is the highest god in Chinese Taoism, believed to rule Heaven. In Journey to the West he appears as the emperor of Heaven, presiding over the gods from his palace, the Hall of Divine Mists.
When the stone monkey is born, the Jade Emperor notices the golden light shining from its eyes, but dismisses it as a creature born of the essence of Heaven and Earth. Later, when the Dragon King and the underworld complain about Wukong's violence, he follows Taibai Jinxing's advice and invites Wukong to Heaven, appointing him Bimawen and then giving him the empty title of Great Sage Equal to Heaven. After Wukong ruins the Peach Banquet, he sends a hundred thousand heavenly soldiers, and on Guanyin's recommendation has his nephew Erlang Shen capture the monkey.
He has long been widely worshipped in China. In Journey to the West he is shown less as a mighty warrior and more as a ruler who listens to his advisers before making decisions.
Episodes featuring this character5
NEWEpisode 1
The Monkey Born of Stone Learns to CryBirth of Sun Wukong (Water Curtain Cave)
A monkey born from a magic stone on Flower-Fruit Mountain finds the Water-Curtain Cave hidden behind a waterfall and becomes the Handsome Monkey King. Five hundred years later, at a feast, the king sees that his childhood friend has grown old. Afraid of the death that comes for everyone, he weeps. Then, refusing to let the end take his friends, he sets out alone across the sea on a small raft.
19 pages
NEWEpisode 3
There's Just One Way to Never DieThe Ruyi Jingu Bang and the Book of Life and Death
Wukong wants a weapon that can protect his friends, so he storms the Dragon Palace beneath the Eastern Sea. There, an iron pillar on the seabed becomes the Ruyi Staff, which grows and shrinks at his command. That same night, after drinking with his new sworn brothers, his soul is dragged to the Underworld, and he wipes his own name and his friends' names from the Ledger of Death.
19 pages
NEWEpisode 4
Hired by Heaven, Stuck in the StablesGreat Sage Equal to Heaven
Invited to Heaven, Wukong is made "Bimawen," keeper of the Heavenly Horses. He works day and night without sleep, then learns the job is so low it doesn't even have a rank. Furious, he goes home to Flower-Fruit Mountain and names himself the Great Sage Equal to Heaven. He drives off Heaven's army, and Nezha is the first to call him by that name. But what Heaven finally gives him is a rank with a big name and nothing else.
19 pages
NEWEpisode 5
Not Invited? He Ate the Whole FeastThe Peach Banquet and the Elixir Pills
Made guardian of Heaven's peach orchard, Sun Wukong secretly eats the immortal peaches. When he finds out he's the only one not invited to Heaven's grand banquet, he goes on a rampage. He devours the feast, gobbles up Laozi's golden elixir pills, and flees home to Flower-Fruit Mountain. Down on Earth, 110 years have already passed, and Heaven sends a hundred thousand soldiers after him.
19 pages
NEWEpisode 6
72 Disguises. One Hunter. No Escape?Sun Wukong vs. Erlang Shen
A hundred thousand Heavenly Soldiers can't catch Sun Wukong, so Heaven calls in its greatest hunter: Erlang Shen. Sparrow? He becomes a hawk. Fish? He becomes the bird that eats fish. Whatever Wukong turns into, Erlang sees through it. Then, at the end of the shape-shifting duel, a blow nobody saw coming drops from Heaven's Gate.
19 pages