China trip '05: Wuhan

Monkey King

As I say, East Lake is famous for its natural beauty. However, ancient Chinese philosophy holds that any natural beauty may be enhanced with unconvincing fiberglass and papier-mache replicas of Disney characters and the like. For miles, the park was thick with Simbas, Bambis, and Seven Dwarfs, as well as many other more obscure (yet undoubtedly trademarked somewhere) characters. There were even some real Chinese mythological references: William was particularly pleased to have the opportunity to pop the Monkey King one right in the eyeball, since he had just heard the whole Journey to the West story explained to him a few days before.

Yilong

There were illustrations of many other Chinese myths and legends, and some were done much more nicely than the rather cheesy Monkey King. Here's a dragon, with William illustrating his middle name ("Yilong" -- "Near To The Dragon") beside it.