China Attraction Hiring ‘Monkey King’, Must Hide In A Cave & Be Fed By Tourists

Scenic Attraction In China Is Hiring Actor To Dress Up As Monkey King For S$1,117 A Month

When stressed out due to work, many people would love to just lepak or chill in a corner and stuff their faces with food.

If that sounds like you, a scenic attraction in China might have just the perfect job for you.

The attraction is looking for someone to dress up as the legendary Monkey King, also known as Sun Wukong (孙悟空).

The job requires you to put on a costume, hide in a cave and be fed by tourists.

Attraction hiring Monkey King in reference to famous legend

The recruitment ad, which has gone viral, was posted by the Taihang Wuzhishan scenic area (太行五指山景区), in China’s Hebei province, reported Chinese news outlet Shangyou News (上游新闻).

The tourist attraction features lush vegetation and lofty peaks, including a 3km-long mountain range resembling the “five fingers of Buddha”.

It’s also one of the sites where the gods reputedly subdued the Monkey King, having him pressed down under a giant mountain, according to the legend.

Due to his links to the attraction, the venue is looking to hire an actor to play the Monkey King.

Attraction in China hiring Monkey King for S$1,1117/month

For his exertions, Wuzhishan is willing to pay the actor RMB6,000 (S$1,117) a month.

If that doesn’t sound like much, a manager there told Shangyou News that candidates don’t need to have any academic qualifications.

The only requirements are that they must:

1. Like the Monkey King character
2. Have a certain amount of acting talent
3. Be lively, cheerful and approachable to interact with tourists

The attraction may raise the basic pay after evaluating the actor’s performance, said the manager Mr Shen (name transliterated from Mandarin).

He encouraged performers to interact with tourists, as their salaries will be adjusted accordingly.

While the attraction has already hired two actors for the position, it has been looking for more since last spring.

Actors are fed almost constantly

Videos on Douyin by Monkey King actor Jin Xing Hou Ge (金星猴哥) show tourists, mainly children, feeding him food almost constantly.

Though he seems to be fed fruits most of the time, especially bananas, a boy got his mother to prepare noodles for the actor upon his request.

Mr Shen said the actors are typically fed bananas, snacks, instant noodles, roast chicken and even beer.

They are given so much to eat that when they get off work, they will share the leftover food with other staff members.

Responding to netizens’ worries that the Monkey King actors would get fat and become stuck in the hole, the manager said the hole is big, so that hasn’t happened yet.

Actors must stay in cave the whole time

However, one drawback of the job is that the actors have to stay stuck in the cave for their whole shift.

Currently, one works 2.5 hours in the morning while the other does three hours in the afternoon.

Mr Shen said as they can’t be in there for too long, they’re looking for another actor so each one can work for about two hours.

He quipped that if it’s just the two existing actors working this gig for a long time, “they may not be able to get out after two years”, thanks to the amount of food they’re eating.

Monkey King actor loves his job

Nevertheless, Jin Xing Hou Ge seems to love his job.

Revealing his true face in one of his videos, he tells viewers that he likes playing the Monkey King as the deity — one of China’s legendary heroes — was his idol since young.

Now that he has the opportunity to play the Monkey King all the time, he hopes to spread his image further so more young people can appreciate traditional Chinese culture.

Dream job or weight gainer?

As the recruitment ad and video went viral, many netizens gushed about the “dream job” where one gets paid to eat all day.

However, some expressed their reluctance, worried about gaining weight.

Would you be interested in taking up the job? If so, you might want to get on a plane to China before the position is filled.

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Featured image adapted from Jin Xing Hou Ge on Douyin.