Is there really a prototype of the Monkey King in history? Who is the man commonly known as Che Fengchao?

What is the prototype of the Monkey King? There can be no prototype of the Monkey King in history. In real life, it is impossible to really have a monkey-shaped person jumping out of a crack in the stone. The the Monkey King mentioned here is not the Monkey King, but a person, and his dharma name is Wukong. His original name is Che Fengchao, which has nothing to do with monkeys.

In the ninth year of Tianbao reign of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, envoys from the western regions came to the Tang Dynasty to express their willingness to surrender, and also sent envoys to pay tribute to the Tang Dynasty. In the second year, Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty appointed Zhang Taoguang to escort the ambassador of the guest country back safely, with more than 40 guards, including Che Fengchao. This trip to the western regions completely changed his life. When the Tang Mission escorted the emissary safely back to China and was about to return to Chang 'an, Che Fengchao suddenly became seriously ill.

Perhaps it was because he couldn't accept the fatigue of the long journey. For the sake of his health, the Tang Mission didn't let him return to the Central Plains, but let him rest in the local area. At that time, he was thinking that he was already like this and was likely to die directly. So he began to beg Tathagata to let him recover, and if he recovered, he wanted to become a monk. As a result, he did recover, so he didn't break his word, but he really became a monk.

The so-called Wukong was given the title by Tang Dezong at that time, so we can't see any shadow of the Monkey King from this Wukong. He is just an honest monk who studies the Bible carefully and gives lectures everywhere. He can't compare with Monkey King, who is so unruly and makes a scene in Heaven. So I think his name is Wukong, which is a fact, but the Monkey King didn't take him as the prototype, because there is no similarity between them except the name.