'Monkey King' cares for his primate pals

CHANGSHA－Shi Zhi'an speaks a rare dialect used in Central China's mountainous area, but his 200 "monkey friends" understand him.

Braving the biting winds, Shi walked along the narrow and rugged mountain path, summoning his primate friends. His loud voice broke the silence in the mountains. In the jungle, a few macaques came into view.

Xiyou village, where Shi lives, gets its name from the classical Chinese novel, Journey to the West. The sprawling mountains around the village in the Xiangxi Tujia and Miao autonomous prefecture, Hunan province, used to be a paradise for macaques. However, human activities have made the animals scarce.

"Three or four decades ago, some people came to catch monkeys," Shi said, explaining that he had learned the skill of communicating with primates from the hunters. However, he could not bear to catch the monkeys, and only occasionally called them in order to feed them.

Hearing Shi's voice, macaques jumped out of the woods and ran across a mountain stream toward him. Shi took out a handful of peanuts and a few oranges, and the macaques immediately came forward to pick them up, circling around him and whooping.

A monkey climbed on Shi's shoulder, and started playing with his hair. "This monkey is responsible for keeping watch," Shi explained. "The other monkeys won't come over until it ensures there is no danger."

A little more than 10 minutes later, Shi had nearly 100 macaques in front of him.

Shi has been a "Monkey King" for nine years. He used to work at a mine in the neighboring county. The work kept him away from his home and caused the macaques to lose theirs.

But in recent years, Xiangxi prefecture has reviewed mining operations and even closed some of them. The mountain, which once echoed to the sound of coal carts, has quieted down again.

After leaving his mining job, Shi chose to stay on the mountain to feed the monkeys whenever they were short of food, especially on rainy and snowy days.

After spending so much time with his monkey friends, Shi can quickly identify each of them. He has even given some of the macaques names.

"This is Older Sister and that one is Younger Sister. They always appear together," he said.

In order to store food for the monkeys, Shi first built a thatched cottage on the mountain top. After it collapsed under heavy snow, he built a cabin and paved a stone path from his village to the mountaintop.

Under his care, the number of local macaques has grown from 28 a decade ago to almost 200 today.

Shi's efforts in helping the monkeys has also raised animal protection awareness among the local villagers. Even though the monkeys often rummaged through the village for food, the villagers have tried their best not to disturb them.

"The locals are now living in harmony with the wild species," Shi said.