Folk artists in Wuxi, Jiangsu province, paint the image of monkeys onto the city’s heritage-listed Huishan clay figurines on Feb 2. [Photo/Xinhua]

To celebrate the upcoming Year of the Monkey starting from Feb 8, Lianyungang launched an arts and crafts design competition, titled "Paintings themed on the Monkey King", on Feb 4.

The Huaguo Mountain in Lianyungang is famous for being the birthplace of Sun Wukong, the Monkey King in the Chinese classical novel "Journey to the West". The design competition aims to create an international cultural brand image of Monkey King in the city.

According to organizers from the management office of Huaguo Mountain Scenic Area, they will invite experts from Chinese mainland, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao to be judges for the event.

Eye-catching creative entries with profound cultural meaning are warmly welcomed and have a greater chance to win the prestigious award. Meanwhile, the organizers will develop a series of commercial products in the style of the artistic designs of the winning entries.

To promote the cultural image of “Journey to the West” and enhance awareness of the regional cultural image of Lianyungang, the city is inviting planning agencies that are familiar with the spirit of Monkey to help organize the event.