Monkey Kingdom #1325 sports the “Guapi Mao”, also known as the Melon skin skullcap. It is a headwear of great significance in Chinese culture, and a popular attire during the Qing dynasty. Now it is being shown in 8-bit style as an NFT - the synthesis of ancient culture and digital medium. With Monkey Kingdom fast becoming the new digital icon of Asia, this connection between the past and present holds a deeper significance than meets the eye.

Monkey Kingdom is a collects ion of 2,222 algorithmically generated NFTs inspired by the myth of Sun Wukong, a beloved and legendary mythical figure in East Asian culture. While the West embraced the notion of NFTs rapidly, Asia as a whole lagged behind. Whether it was lack of knowledge or access, NFTs did not penetrate the Asian markets to the degree it had compared to the West. This gap led to the conception of Monkey Kingdom, an attempt to become the first Asian blue-chip NFT project.

Since its launch on November 27, 2021, Monkey Kingdom has grown to become one of the most successful NFT projects in the world, enjoying high mainstream adoption with first-t.mes NFT buyers and building a strong and supportive Asian community that has now spread globally with endorsements from international celebrities.

Sporting minimalistic aestheticism but with deeply rooted cultural elements, the 2,222 Monkey Kings each represent a unique modern take on an ancient and storied culture. No two are alike, with each sporting its own set of attributes. Monkey Kingdom #1325 is distinguished by his Guapi Mao, designated with the trait “Emperor hat 0”. This is a tribute to the origins of the hat, previously known as the “LiuHeYiTong Mao”, designed by the founding emperor of the Ming dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang, after uniting China from “six directions”. Besides the historical significance, it also represents one of Monkey Kingdom's core goals, to bridge the gap between the physical world and the metaverse(?).

While the project’s popularity has grown immensely, its core focus remains centred around two of its original goals. The first is to bridge the divide between the physical world and the metaverse. The second is to represent the Asian community in the metaverse, filling up a void that previously existed in the NFT world. As this space develops at an unprecedented speed by changing and democratizing the way masses appreciate and collects art, Monkey Kingdom has rallied a cadre of enthusiastic Asian supporters to the forefront of the digital art community, building new friendships/bonds and connecting communities across the world through the metaverse.

《#1325 瓜皮帽悟空》頭戴一頂瓜皮帽，這頂帽子是清朝時期的流行衣飾，可以說是中國文化的象徵之一。戴著瓜皮帽的悟空以八位元像素風格被製作成NFT，結合了古代文化和數碼媒介。Monkey Kingdom 已經成為了亞洲的潮流標誌，而這個企劃更有深刻的意義。

Monkey Kingdom是一系列合共2222個由電腦演算法所產生、以齊天大聖孫悟空為靈感的NFT作品。NFT的崛起在西方市場中並不算是新鮮事，但NFT在亞洲市場中卻尚未盛行。也許是因為亞洲區的大眾對NFT缺乏認識，或者甚少有機會接觸到NFT，令這個嶄新的藝術模式並未滲透到亞洲市場中，未能如在西方市場般受歡迎。Monkey Kingdom就在這個市況中應運而生，旨在成為首個亞洲「藍籌」NFT項目。

自Monkey Kingdom於2021年11月27日推出以來，這個項目已成為了全球其中一個最成功的NFT企劃，不但在新手NFT買家群中備受追捧，從而得到主流文化的認可，更在亞洲擁有一大群忠實的支持者，其影響力亦擴展至全球，不少國際名人亦爭相搶購。

這2222個孫悟空在藝術風格上極為簡約，又同時蘊含著豐富的文化內涵，以前衛現代的方式詮釋一個源遠流長、充滿各種傳說的文化。每個孫悟空的特徵都不一樣，獨一無二。瓜皮帽是Monkey Kingdom #1325的特徵，名為「皇帝帽0」（Emperor hat 0），是向其起源致敬。這頂帽子本名為「六合一統帽」，據說由明朝開國皇帝洪武帝設計，有著「六合一統、天下歸一」的意思，意寓洪武帝從「東、南、西、北、天、地」六個方向一統中國。這頂瓜皮帽不但極具歷史意義，更反映了Monkey Kingdom想連繫現實世界與元宇宙（metaverse）的核心目標。

雖然這個企劃的人氣不斷上升，但其核心仍然圍繞著最初的兩個目標。企劃旨在成為現實世界與元宇宙之間的橋樑，並且成為原本在元宇宙裡不算活躍的亞洲族群的代表。隨著元宇宙以日新月異的速度發展，它影響著大眾欣賞和收藏藝術的方式，令更多人接觸到藝術。Monkey Kingdom為NFT藝術帶來一群積極參與的亞洲粉絲，引領他們走在數碼藝術社區的前沿，在元宇宙中與全球各地族群連繫起來。