If Davec had not posted about the Monkey King mythology a few days ago I certainly would have. He did a great job pointing out the main ideas. I just want to build upon certain ideas, mainly the idea of Son Goku from Dragonball Z and Son Goku from Journey to the West. Like Davec mentioned two of the main comparisons are their accessories. Both of them use a staff in battle and ride on a cloud.
One of the first things I noticed in American Born Chinese, was the use of the cloud, especially on page 71 when he was being chased by Tze-Yo-Tzuh (God). In Dragonball the cloud is given to Goku as a gift, that only the pure of heart could ride. The cloud is introduced in American Born Chinese as a discipline to master. In Journey to the West the Monkey King could perform a move called the cloud somersault that allowed him to leap to vast distances in one leap.
For both of them, the staff’s main power is to grow from the size of a needle to a coliseum column. In the story of Journey to the West the staff was actually used a support column for the Sea Dragon’s palace and weighs 13,500 pounds. In the Dragonball franchise, the staff is dubbed as the Power Pole. The pole can even reach the moon if the owner wishes it so. The staff is used throughout all three stories (American Born Chinese, Dragonball, and Journey to the West).
American Born Chinese and Dragonball draw from Journey to the West and represent the same two ideas in different variations.