The question of whether the Monkey King (Sun Wukong) is male or female arises frequently, as Journey to the West never explicitly portrays him having sexual desires toward men or women.
The Surname of Wukong
In the novel’s first chapter, when Subhuti asks Sun Wukong if he has a surname, the Monkey King said he doesn’t have one as he has not parents.
“I’m not speaking of your temper,” the Patriarch said. “I’m asking after the name of your parents.” “I have no parents either,” said the Monkey King. The Patriarch said, “If you have no parents, you must have been born from a tree.” “Not from a tree,” said the Monkey King, “but from a rock. I recall that there used to be an immortal stone on the Flower-Fruit Mountain. I was born the year the stone split open.”
— Journey to the West, Chapter 1
Then Master Subhuti tries to give the monkey a surname.
The Patriarch laughed and said, “Though your features are not the most attractive, you do resemble a pignolia-eating monkey (husun ). This gives me the idea of taking a surname for you from your appearance. I intended to call you by the name Hu. If I drop the animal radical from this word, what’s left is a compound made up of the two characters, gu and yue. Gu means aged and yue means female, but an aged female cannot reproduce. Therefore, it is better to give you the surname of Sun. If I drop the animal radical from this word, what we have left is the compound of zi and xi. Zi means a boy and xi means a baby, and that name exactly accords with the fundamental Doctrine of the Baby Boy. So your surname will be ‘Sun’.”
— Journey to the West, Chapter 1
Wukong now has his surname Sun(孙in Chinese) which refers to Baby Boy, confirming his gender as male.
Behavioral and Social Clues
Zhu Bajie and Sha Monk consistently address Sun Wukong as “Big Brother” or “Elder Brother”, a term reserved for male peers.
Once more the monster bowed to Tripitaka, declaring his intention to follow him to the West, and then bowed also to Pilgrim, addressing him as “elder brother” because he was the senior disciple.
— Journey to the West, Chapter 19
“This family-hugging devil!” said Pilgrim. “You only left the family a few days ago, and you are already beginning to complain.” “Elder Brother,” said Eight Rules, “I’m not like you—I can’t imbibe the wind and exhale the mist. Since I began following our master a few days ago, I’ve been half hungry all the time. Did you know that?”
— Journey to the West, Chapter 20
When he suddenly heard people saying that the Tang Monk was a tiger spirit, he thought to himself, “My master is definitely a true man. It had to be that fiend who changed him into a tiger spirit in order to harm him. What’s to be done? What’s to be done? Big Brother is long gone, and there is no news from either Sha Monk or Eight Rules.”
— Journey to the West, Chapter 30
Sun Wukong repeatedly refers to himself as the “maternal grandfather” of demons to mock them — a title only used by males.
Ambiguity around sexual experience
After the Bodhisattva took her seat again, she said,
“Wukong, the sweet dew in my vase is not like that unauthorized rain of the Dragon Kings; it can extinguish the samadhi fire of the monster-spirit. I want you to take it with you, but you are unable to pick up the vase. I want the Dragon Girl Skilled in Wealth to go with you, but I fear that you are not a person of kindly disposition. All you know is how to hoodwink people. When you see how beautiful my Dragon Girl is, and what a treasure is my immaculate vase, you will try to steal it. If you succeed, where would I find time to go look for you? You’d better leave something behind as a pledge. ““How pitiful!” said Pilgrim. “Bodhisattva, you are so suspicious! Since your disciple embraced Buddhism, he has never indulged in such activities. You tell me to leave a pledge, what shall I use? “
— Journey to the West, Chapter 42
Notably, Wukong does not deny pre-Buddhist sexual experiences, leaving room for interpretation.
Golden-Nosed White-Haired Rodent Spirit disguised herself as a beautiful woman to lure and devour Buddhist monks in the temple.
“But the stars and the moon, so luminous this evening, have created the affinity for you and me to meet. Let’s go into the rear garden and make love.”
On hearing this, Pilgrim nodded and said to himself, “So those several stupid monks all succumbed to lust and that was how they lost their lives. Now she’s trying to fool even me!”
He said to her, “Lady, this priest is still very young, and he doesn’t know much about lovemaking.”
“Follow me,” said the girl, “and I’ll teach you.” Pilgrim smiled and said to himself, ”All right! I’ll follow her and see what she wants to do with me.”
They put their arms around each other’s shoulders, and, hand in hand, the two of them left the hall to walk to the rear garden. Immediately tripping Pilgrim up with her leg so that he fell to the ground, the fiend began crying “Sweetheart” madly as she tried to pinch his stinky root.— Journey to the West, Chapter 81
When the Golden-Nosed White-Haired Mouse Spirit attempted to seduce Sun Wukong, this episode explicitly revealed his male identity. Consequently, Sun Wukong’s gender is undeniably male, a conclusion beyond any dispute.
While Sun Wukong’s origins as a “stone monkey” suggest symbolic gender neutrality, linguistic, social, and textual evidence overwhelmingly identifies him as male. His apparent asexuality reflects his spiritual detachment rather than biological gender ambiguity.
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