Belinda asked Gene Luen Yang:

I loved the role the Monkey King played in American Born Chinese because I grew up watching Journey to the West, so how did you come up with the idea to include the Monkey King in the graphic novel? Was it hard to make the character relatable to readers who had no prior knowledge of him?

Gene Luen Yang I've loved the character since I was a kid. I grew up listening to my mom tell Monkey King stories. After I discovered the plethora of Monkey King comics in China and Japan, I got really intimidated. What could I possibly add to the world by doing an MK adaptation when there were so many already in existence? In the end, I hit on the idea of using the Monkey King to talk about the Asian American experience.

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