A staff member shows gold notes marking the Year of the Monkey at a bank in Taiyuan, North China’s Shanxi province, Jan. 4, 2016. The notes featured Sun Wukong, also known as the Monkey King, a main character in the Chinese classical novel "Journey to the West". According to the Chinese lunar calendar, 2016 is the Year of the Monkey. [Photo/China News Service]

With the upcoming Year of the Monkey, a variety of gold, monkey-related products have sprung up all over China.

Not to be left out of the trend, a Shanxi Province bank in northern China have debuted prototypes of new golden Monkey King bank notes on January 4, reported China News Service.

The notes depict Sun Wukong, also known as the Monkey King. He is a main character in the Chinese classical novel Journey to the West and one of the most enduring literary figures in Chinese history.

For those not interested in literature however, it simply gives them a good excuse to say "Show me the monkey".