Chinese Influences in Dragon Ball

By way of his wife's own interests, Akira Toriyama found inspiration in China in late 1981, first introducing these influences into his work with the Tsun family in Dr. Slump in 1982. Toriyama worked toward concluding Dr. Slump and beginning a new manga series over the course of 1983, resulting in the "prototype" works Dragon Boy and The Adventure of Tongpoo. Ultimately settling on a concept based on the 16th century Chinese novel Journey to the West for his upcoming series, Toriyama took a research trip to China in April 1984; after working through a few drafts/manuscripts, Dragon Ball began serialization in November 1984, debuting in a Chinese-style setting.

This page covers several areas of Chinese influence in Dragon Ball, whether in Akira Toriyama's original manga or in its various adaptations, continuations, and spin-off works.

Further information: Mythology, folklore, and literature references in Dragon Ball‎

Locations

General Landscapes

https://www.kanzenshuu.com/translations/dragon-ball-z-anime-special-dragon-call/

At the beginning, I aimed for backgrounds with a Chinese-style transparency, and also depth, in accordance with Toriyama-sensei's wishes; however, they turned out more like fairy tale-style, Chinese-landscape paintings, without much sense of dimension.
— Yūji Ikeda, "Dragon Call," Jump Gold Selection: Dragon Ball Z Anime Special

Items

Son Goku's Dōgi

https://www.kanzenshuu.com/translations/daizenshuu-1-akira-toriyama-super-interview/

When you say yellow or orange, do you mean the color of Goku's dōgi?
Yes. However, I didn't make his dōgi that color because I liked it, but rather because it was the color of the dōgi worn by Buddhist monks who trained in China. It was a color particular to China.
— "Akira Toriyama Super Interview," Dragon Ball Daizenshuu 1: Complete Illustrations

https://www.kanzenshuu.com/translations/chogashu-akira-toriyama-super-interview-latest-edition/

How did you decide on the coloring of costumes, such as the main characters' clothes and the Kamesen-school dōgi?
For the colors of the dōgi, the motif is naturally the color of the robes worn by Chinese monks, such as the Shaolin. The fact that it became red in the anime was always something I was a bit dissatisfied with.
— "Akira Toriyama Super Interview," Dragon Ball Chōgashū: Super Art Collection

Nyoi-Bō

Further information: Nyoi-Bō#Origin in Journey to the West

Kinto'un

Further information: Kinto'un#Origin in Journey to the West

Bashō Fan

Further information: Bashō Fan#Origin in Journey to the West

Dragon Balls

furigana above the names indicate a Japanese approximation of the Chinese readings

Characters

Son Goku

Dragon Ball's main character, 孫悟空 (pronounced as Son Gokū in Japanese), takes his name verbatim from 孫悟空 (Sun Wukong) in the 16th century Chinese novel Journey to the West by Wu Cheng'en; this is one of the monkey king's various titles, given to him by his first master, the Taoist monk Subodhi:

The Patriarch laughed and said, "Though your features are not the most attractive, you do resemble a monkey (hu-sun) that feeds on pine seeds. This gives me the idea of deriving your surname from your appearance. I intended to call you by the name 'Hu.' Now, when the accompanying animal radical is dropped from this word, what's left is a compound made up of the two characters, ku and yüeh. Ku means aged and yüeh means female, but an aged female cannot reproduce. Therefore, it is better to give you the surname of 'Sun'. When the accompanying radical is dropped from this word, we have the compound of tzŭ and hsi. Tzŭ means a boy and hsi means a baby, so that the name exactly accords with the Doctrine of the Baby. So your surname will be 'Sun'." When the Monkey King heard this, he was filled with delight. "Splendid! Splendid!" he cried, kowtowing. "At least I know my surname. May the Master be even more gracious! Since I have receive the surname, let me be given also a personal name, so that it may facilitate your calling and commanding me." The Patriarch said, "Within my tradition are twelve characters which have been used to name the pupils according to their divisions. You are one who belongs to the tenth generation." "Which twelve characters are they?" asked the Monkey King. The Patriarch said, "They are: wide (kuang), great (ta), wise (chih), intelligence (hui), true (chên), conforming (ju), nature (hsing), sea (hai), sharp (ying), wake-to (wu), complete (yüan), and awakening (chüeh). Your rank falls precisely on the word 'wake-to' (wu). You will hence be given the religious name 'Wake-to-Vacuity' (wu-k'ung). All right?" "Splendid! Splendid!" said the Monkey King, laughing: "henceforth I shall be called Sun Wu-k'ung."
— The Journey to the West Volume 1, Translated and Edited by Anthony C. Yu (page #)

Because the name is taken directly from its source material, various other "Son Goku" (or simply "Goku") characters exist throughout other — even sometimes contemporary — manga and anime series that likewise take inspiration from or otherwise adapt Journey to the West. Some of these include, but are not limited to:

• Goku Furinji (Buichi Terasawa's Midnight Eye Goku)
• Son Goku (Kazuya Minekura's Saiyuki)
• Goku (Jōji Arimori and Romu Aoi's Asobotto Senki Gokū)

Many of the early elements of Dragon Ball's Son Goku are taken from or inspired by Journey to the West, including his transformation into a Great Ape (inspired by Wukong's ability to change his size at will) and his usage of Nyoi-Bō (inspired by Wukong's Compliant Golden-Hooped Rod).

Oolong

Further information: Oolong#Origin in Journey to the_West

Yamcha

Further information: Yamcha#Origin in Journey to the_West

Ox Demon King

Further information: Ox Demon King#Origin in Journey to the_West

Shenlong

神龍 (furigana above the name indicates a Japanese approximation of Shenron from the Chinese pronunciation of Shénlóng, as opposed to a native Japanese pronunciation of the kanji as Shin Ryū)

Ginkaku & Kinkaku

TBD

Evil Dragons

As with the Dragon Balls that give birth to them, the evil dragons from the last arc of the Dragon Ball GT television series have names that are approximated in Japanese according to their Chinese pronunciations.

This name source is obfuscated and corrupted in FUNimation's English dub of the series, which mistakes Shinron ("-Star Dragon") for Shenron ("Dragon God"), and goes on to create its own series of names that spell out S-H-E-N-R-O-N from the first letter of each name when listed in numerical order.

Stars	Chinese Name	Japanese Approximation	FUNimation English Name
One	Yi Xing Long	Ī-Shinron	Syn / Omega Shenron
Two	Liang Xing Long	Ryan-Shinron	Haze Shenron
Three	San Xing Long	San-Shinron	Eis Shenron
Four	Si Xing Long	Sū-Shinron	Nuova Shenron
Five	Wu Xing Long	Ū-Shinron	Rage Shenron
Six	Liu Xing Long	Ryū-Shinron	Oceanus Shenron
Seven	Qi Xing Long	Chī-Shinron	Naturon Shenron

Music

Every Dragon Ball composer has written music that deliberately invokes Chinese traditional music, often in the stereotypical manner of the Western classical tradition, up to and including 20th century film music. These stereotypes include parallel perfect fourths and fifths, pentatonic movement, and imitations of traditional Chinese instruments using Western instruments or sound synthesis.

Shunsuke Kikuchi

Below is a table of Shunsuke Kikuchi's Chinese-style compositions, their parallel diatonic tonalities, and their stereotypes.

^† Minor Chinese-style references or elements.

Shunsuke Kikuchi's Chinese-style Dragon Ball works
Kanzenshuu Catalogue	Official Catalogue	Tonality	Chinese elements	Debut	Release
K-2	H4	D Minor	pentatonic movement, instruments	Dragon Ball Episode 1	Daizenshuu 2:7(d)
K-3	H3		pentatonic movement, parallel fourths		Daizenshuu 2:7(c)
K-225	K-225		pentatonic movement, parallel fourths, instruments	Dragon Ball Movie 1	Unreleased
K-227	M229†	F Minor	pentatonic movement, parallel fourths		Daizenshuu 5:2(c)
K-602	K-602	F Major	pentatonic movement, instruments	Dragon Ball Movie 3	Unreleased
K-625	K-625		pentatonic movement, instruments
K-645	K-645		pentatonic movement, instruments
K-647	M655		pentatonic movement, instruments		Daizenshuu 5:4(e)