Xing Xing

Xing Xing (Chinese: 星星) is a one-armed Tibetan macaque who lives in the Daliang Mountains in the Chinese province of Zhejiang. She is a popular monkey within social media networks, especially from Chinese audiences, due to her publicity from photos and videos and her overall friendly demeanor towards other visitors, some of whom feed her. Xing Xing is a wild monkey who often visits Yanghu Temple, where she is cared for mainly by an elder nun named Ye Liannu. According to the temple's head abbot Ying, Xing Xing was once a circus monkey who at some point lost her arm from a boar trap and was found by a hunter who sold her to a village. She was released shortly after and had reached the Daliang Mountains area, where she had since grown used to and been cared for by the attendants of Yanghu Temple. Xing Xing's age is unknown, but she had lived within the Daliang Mountain range for over fifteen years.

Xing Xing

Species	Tibetan macaque
Sex	Female
Residence	Daliang Mountains, Ninghai County, Zhejiang, China

Biography

Xing Xing (Chinese: 星星 meaning "star-star") is a one-armed Tibetan macaque who resides in the Daliang Mountains, located within the Dongnanxi Village in Ninghai County, which is within the province of Zhejiang.^[1][2] The head abbot of Yanghu Temple, named Ying, said in an interview that Xing Xing was a circus monkey at an early age. Later, Xing Xing at some point lost one of her arms due to it having been caught in a wild boar trap. He also revealed that a hunter found the monkey and sold her to a village near the mountains. She was reportedly kept in a restaurant as entertainment for visitors for a short time, but the villagers let her go because they could not afford to feed her fruits and peanuts for long. She later came across the Yanghu Temple, where an elder nun named Tai Chang fed the macaque and named her "Xing Xing". At the time of her arrival, she was pregnant and in poor health; her newborn child died during the winter. She also had a large iron chain collar tied around her neck when she first arrived, causing harm to her skin. At some point by request from the village, a worker from the Ningbo Zoo helped to remove it, but it had already created a permanent scar around her neck. Monkeys do not currently naturally reside in Ninghai County, meaning that Xing Xing wandered there at some point.^[3][4]

Ye Liannu, an elderly nun and local resident, is the main caretaker of Xing Xing, although the macaque remains free. According to Ye, the macaque was at first afraid of her but later trusted Ye as she came to the mountains to feed her. Since, the two had trusted each other to the point that whenever Ye called her by name, Xing Xing would run to the village and seek her. She also revealed that Xing Xing was capable of peeling seeds and fruit and operating faucets using her one hand. Ye described Xing Xing as normally being friendly but also being able to display degrees of aggression as she is a wild animal.^[5][6][4] She also has shown bad temperament, however, such as by grabbing people's clothes or by leaving the scene; Ye tended to resolve such conflicts by calming her down.^[7] Xing Xing is also noted for interacting with cats and is capable of moving quickly despite only having one arm.^[4] Additionally, Xing Xing is capable of drinking from straws, such as whenever she is being fed from a box of milk.^[8] Ying stated that Xing Xing's presence helped to make the village more lively; with the three temple caretakers including him, Ye, and a cleaning staff member being the ones to feed her food typically in the morning. He said that she tended to steal food at first,^[9] but she no longer does so.^[10] Additionally, according to Ying, she often visited the area in the afternoon for a few hours before departing elsewhere.^[9] As of 2023, it had been more than fifteen years since she was first taken in by the Buddhist nun, her age being unknown.^[4]

Popularity

Xing Xing became popular in 2021 when a photo of her eating food went viral on social media. She especially grew attention among Chinese audiences as a celebrity, with Yanghu Temple drawing plenty of local visitors. Videos of her have been uploaded on both X and TikTok, drawing millions of views each. Her popularity among audiences is credited to her well-tempered and friendly personality, leading to visitors of other countries seeking to visit her.^[4][11] As a result of her approachable behavior, some visitors had also been able to feed her.^[12]

Despite her overall friendly behavior, especially to Ye, the caretaker warned against provoking her since she could display aggressive behavior in response.^[5] In October 2022, an incident occurred stemming from when a tourist brought grapes for Xing Xing. When Ye took them away from her out of concern that she was being fed too much food by tourists, Xing Xing was provoked and bit her in response, bruising her in the process. Ye's family had taken her for a rabies vaccine shortly afterward, where her wound was treated by medical staff. In light of the incident, Chayuan Township members put up warning signs within the Daliang Mountains, advising visitors not to touch Xing Xing or feed her too much food.^[9][13]

See also

• List of individual monkeys