"Journey to the West," a ribald Chinese folk tale, heavy on Buddhism, kung fu and featuring a fighting Monkey King, is about to be turned into a 50-part skein by Chinese producer Zhang Jizhong, while the legend of the Monkey King is being written as an opera by Britpop legend Damon Albarn.

Zhang has even invited netizens to offer suggestions on how his TV remake of the hugely popular folk tale, due to start shooting this December, should look.

"Journey to the West" is a rollicking, 500-year-old story by Wu Cheng'en detailing events that befall the Monkey King, armed with a magic staff, as he journeys with a monk, a pig spirit and a fish spirit to India to retrieve Buddha's scrolls to find enlightenment.

On the skein's Web site, Zhang asks webizens to answer 10 questions about the remake of the show, and says any outstanding suggestions would be included in the new 50-episode show.

Skein will have a five-man screenwriting team, but Zhang says the roles would probably go to little-known actors, because shooting would go on for seven or eight months and a big star would be too expensive.

However, Zhang says that actors such as Li Yapeng, Zhou Xun, Jiang Qingqing and Huang Xiaoming, all of whom have starred in his previous projects, would be asked to play supporting roles.

It's a hugely popular story in China, both as a book and in numerous TV and screen incarnations. A TV version by the helmer Yang Jie topped all ratings in China back in 1986, while movie sites were abuzz with rumor last year that Steven Spielberg was planning a remake.

A Japanese version of the show, "Monkey," which was shot in northeastern China with Japanese thesps, then dubbed into English, was a monster hit in the late 1970s when it was broadcast in Blighty and Oz, and still enjoys cult status among thirtysomethings.

Meanwhile Albarn, who turns 39 this week and may be one of those thirtysomethings who remember the Japanese cult series, will base his opera "Monkey: Journey to the West" on the text.

He will team up with his Gorillaz collaborator, Jamie Hewitt, who will provide the visuals for the opera, which is expected to bow at the Manchester Intl. Festival on June 28.

Chinese theater and opera helmer Chen Shizheng, who won kudos for his "Peony Pavilion" at the Lincoln, will direct the piece, which will be a co-production with Theatre du Chatelet in Paris and the Staatsoper in Berlin.