In China, the best-loved primate by far is the "Monkey King", the mythical magic monkey who is said to have loyally served the monk, Xuan Zang, on his historic Tang Dynasty journey from the Chinese capital to India in search of Buddhist sutras. Often portrayed in operas and at festivals, and more recently in an ever-popular television series, the "Monkey King" is always portrayed with yellow-fur, tiger skin robes and an en-dearing habit of scratching his fur while thinking or resting. It is clear form his characteristics and his habits that he is a member of the species Macaca mulatta, the yellow-haired short-tailed rhesus macaque. The rhesus macaque is the most common primate in China, and is also found throughout the Himalayas and the northern tropical and sub-tropical regions of continental Asia.
Rhesus monkeys seem to have spread across Asia with humans, and although they are found in many pristine forests, they are sometimes considered commensal monkeys, adapted to living around humans and exploiting the crops that humans plant or the garbage that they discard. The relationship has been a mixed blessing for both species. On the one hand, rhesus monkeys are hunted for food and medicine in many areas of China, and they are widely hated for their habit of pilfering maize and other crops from farmers' fields. On the other hand, paintings and murals dating back for centuries are evidence that macaques have been trained and kept as pets for thousands of years in China, and the tradition of monkey performers is also an ancient one.
