The many on-screen portrayals of China’s favorite pig
Although pigs tend not have a positive image in Chinese language and culture (unless one is cooking them), the lure of shoppers’ sweet cash has ensured that many brands have gone the whole hog with themed products for this Year of the Pig.
China’s most iconic pig, though, is still Zhu Bajie, also known as Pigsy or Zhu Wuneng, one of the three disciples of the monk Tang Sanzang in the classic novel Journey to the West. In the novel, Zhu Bajie was a lecherous minor deity banished to the mortal realm and turned into a half-man, half-pig. Though usually overshadowed by fellow pilgrim Sun Wukong, aka the Monkey King, Zhu Bajie remains a household name, and there have been many movies and TV series with him as the main character.
The Zhu Bajie standard is considered to be actor Ma Dehua’s portrayal from the 1986 TV series Journey to the West:
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