journey to the west

Journey to the West: Introduction

by That's Mandarin | Oct 11, 2022 | Guest Blogs & Media

To spark your interest, our guest author Jeff Pepper from Imagin8 Press has shared a brief introduction of the book.

TIP: Scroll the the bottom of the article to discover links to a version of the book written for English-speaking students of Chinese!

Q: What is Journey to the West about?

Journey to the West (西游记, Xīyóu Jì), is a Chinese novel written in the 16th century by Wu Cheng’en (吴承恩, Wú Chéng’ēn).

It is probably the most famous and best-loved novel in China and is considered one of the four great classical novels of Chinese literature. Its place in Chinese literature is roughly comparable to Homer’s epic poem The Odyssey in Western literature. Wikipedia sums up the book’s role perfectly, saying, “Enduringly popular, the tale is at once a comic adventure story, a humorous satire of Chinese bureaucracy, a spring of spiritual insight, and an extended allegory in which the group of pilgrims journeys towards enlightenment by the power and virtue of cooperation.”

Q: Is Journey to the West based on a real story?

The novel’s storyline is loosely based on an actual journey by a Buddhist monk also called Xuanzang who traveled from the city of Chang’an (today’s Xi’an) westward to India in 629 A.D. and returned 17 years later with priceless knowledge and texts of Buddhism.

Q: In short, what is Journey to the West about?

A long time ago, in a magical version of ancient China, the great Tang Empire is ruled by an emperor named Taizong. Due to a mixup involving the wrongful execution of a dragon king, Taizong falls ill, dies, and is dragged down to the underworld. There he comes face to face with the Ten Kings of the Underworld, survives a harrowing journey through hell, and finally escapes with the help of a deceased courtier.

When Taizong returns to the human world he is a changed man. He decides to send a monk to the Western Heaven (that is, India), to visit the Buddha, obtain holy scriptures, and bring them back to the people of the Tang Empire. This task is nearly impossible, requiring the crossing of thousands of miles of wild and dangerous territory. With guidance from the bodhisattva Guanyin, the emperor selects a young monk named Xuanzang.

Xuanzang is a brilliant young man but has a complicated history. In an earlier lifetime centuries before, he was a student of the Buddha but was careless in his studies. Expelled from the Buddha’s temple, he spent the next ten lifetimes meditating and acquiring merit. As an infant in his current lifetime he is nearly killed by bandits, placed in a floating basket by his widowed mother and sent downriver, rescued by a monk, and raised in a monastery. At age eighteen he learns his true history, and goes off to avenge his father’s death.

Later he is chosen by Taizong to undertake the epic journey to the west. Now called Tangseng (“monk from Tang”), he faces a near-impossible task: he must cross hundreds of mountains and thousands of rivers, and survive encounters with a horrifying series of bandits, monsters, demons, ghosts, evil kings, scheming monks, false Buddhas, and much more.

Q: How about the Monkey King and other famous characters?

Tangseng could never survive the journey on his own. Fortunately he acquires three powerful but deeply flawed disciples.

First is the monkey king Sun Wukong (孙悟空, S ūn W ù kōng , his name means “ape awakened to the void”), who he frees from a 500-year imprisonment under a mountain in punishment for creating havoc in heaven.

Second is Zhu Bajie (猪八戒, Zhū Bājiè, “pig of the eight prohibitions”), a gluttonous pig-man who is constantly fighting, and often succumbing to, his desires for food, sex and comfort.

And third is Sha Wujing (沙悟净, Shā Wùjìng, “sand seeking purity”), a reformed man-eating river demon.

All three have been converted to Buddhism by the monk, but they often slip back into their bad habits and cause Tangseng a great deal of trouble. Fortunately they all have great magical powers which come in handy for battling demons and monsters, and saving Tangseng from all sorts of trouble.

The story of this journey is described in this epic novel.

Q: How long is the original book?

The original Journey to the West is a very long book. It contains 100 chapters and is 588,000 Chinese characters long. It uses a very large vocabulary of 4,500 different words, over 90% of which are not included in HSK Levels 1-6, making it quite difficult for most non-native Chinese speakers to read.

The novel is also available in English translation, the best one being by the scholar Dr. Anthony Yu. His version fills four volumes and runs over 2,300 pages.

Q: Is the book suitable for Chinese beginners?

Fortunately for people learning to read Chinese, there is now another way to read this book. My writing partner Xiao Hui Wang and I have spent the last five years writing a series of 31 books that retell the Journey to the West story in language that is accessible to anyone learning to read Chinese at the HSK 3 level. The stories in these books are told in a way that matches the original as closely as possible, but because they are graded readers they are much easier to read. The first book, Rise of the Monkey King, is relatively short and uses just 512 Chinese words. Each book adds more new words and slightly increases the length of the story and complexity of the writing, leading step by step to the longest and most challenging book, Book 31, The Final Trial. All told, the entire series uses about 2,200 different Chinese words excluding proper nouns.

Fortunately, the original novel is not written as a single continuous story, but is broken up into more or less standalone episodes, each one between one and four chapters in length. This makes it possible to read and enjoy any of the 31 graded readers without having to read the ones that came before it.

Each book is written in Simplified Chinese. The books include pinyin, English translation, and a glossary. Free audio versions of each book are available free of charge on YouTube.

Q: Where can I get these books?

A list of all 31 books in the series, along with short descriptions and links to the Amazon product pages and free YouTube audiobooks, can be found on the Imagin8 Press home page, www.imagin8press.com .

by Jeff Pepper

Jeff Pepper ([email protected]) is President and CEO of Imagin8 Press , and has written dozens of books about Chinese language and culture.

Over his thirty-five year career he has founded and led several successful computer software firms, including one that became a publicly traded company. He’s authored two software related books and has been awarded three U.S. patents.

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西遊記 by Cheng'en Wu

Journey to the West | Full Story, Summary & Moral Lessons

• February 19, 2024

“Journey to the West” stands as one of the pinnacles of  Chinese  literature, a riveting blend of mythology, folklore, humor, and  spirituality . 

Authored by Wu Cheng’en in the 16th century during the Ming dynasty, this epic novel has transcended its cultural origins to become a global literary treasure!

The narrative follows the perilous journey of the Buddhist monk Xuanzang, historically known, as he travels to India to obtain sacred Buddhist scriptures. Accompanied by his three disciples— Sun Wukong , Zhu Bajie, and Sha Wujing—each with their own unique abilities, their quest is filled with divine interventions, battles with demons, and moral lessons.

Many of which we will be getting to know today!

Table of Contents

Historical Context

The “Journey to the West” is deeply entwined with the real-life travels of Xuanzang (602-664 CE), whose  pilgrimage  to India and back took 17 years, a journey undertaken to obtain authentic Buddhist scriptures. 

Wu Cheng’en’s fictionalized account, however, does more than narrate a religious quest; it weaves a rich story of Chinese myths,  Taoist  and  Buddhist  philosophy, and satirical commentary on the social issues of his time, making it a multifaceted work of art.

If you’re interested in watching the Journey to the West, I highly recommend the  1986 series  as it’s often lauded as being not only the most accurate but also you can really feel the love and respect given to the adaptation.

Key Characters

Tang Sanzang

Tang Sanzang, also known as Tripitaka , stands at the heart of “Journey to the West” as its protagonist. His mission to retrieve sacred  Mahayana Buddhist  scriptures from India serves as the narrative’s driving force. Tang Sanzang embodies virtues such as humility, compassion, and unwavering dedication to his spiritual quest. 

His portrayal as the epitome of piety and moral integrity offers a rich canvas against which his interactions with disciples and various challenges unfold.

Tang Sanzang’s personality is a blend of devout faith and moral steadfastness. He is the moral compass for his disciples, guiding them not only towards their external goal but also on their internal journeys of growth and  enlightenment . 

Despite his virtues, Tang Sanzang is not portrayed as infallible. His naivety and strict adherence to religious doctrines sometimes lead him into trouble, requiring rescue by his more worldly and powerful disciples. This aspect of his character highlights the novel’s exploration of the balance between innocence and wisdom, as well as the necessity of worldly knowledge in achieving spiritual goals.

Throughout the novel, Tang Sanzang undergoes significant development. His journey is not only a physical one across dangerous terrains but also a spiritual odyssey that tests and refines his character. He learns to balance his strict moral codes with the practicalities of the world, growing in understanding and compassion towards his disciples and the beings they encounter.

Sun Wukong , famously known as the Monkey King , is one of the most beloved characters in “Journey to the West.” 

His origins are as magical as his personality; born from a stone egg on the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit, Sun Wukong acquires supernatural powers through Taoist practices. 

His abilities include shape-shifting, immense strength, and the ability to travel vast distances in a single somersault. Despite his powers, Sun Wukong’s early journey is marked by rebellion and pride, leading him to challenge the heavens themselves.

His initial defiance against the celestial order and subsequent punishment—being imprisoned under a mountain by the Buddha—sets the stage for his redemption arc. 

His release by Tang Sanzang and commitment to protect the monk on the journey to India is a turning point, marking his transition from a rebellious figure to a devoted disciple. This journey serves as a path of self-discovery and spiritual maturation for Sun Wukong, as he confronts challenges that test his ingenuity, patience, and fidelity.

The Monkey King’s personality is multifaceted; he is cunning and playful, yet capable of profound wisdom and bravery. His loyalty to Tang Sanzang is unwavering, and he becomes the monk’s most powerful protector, using his abilities to overcome demons and obstacles that the pilgrimage encounters. Sun Wukong’s transformation from a mischievous troublemaker to a protector embodies the novel’s themes of redemption and the possibility of spiritual growth regardless of one’s past.

In terms of symbolic significance, Sun Wukong represents the untamed mind and the potential for enlightenment within all beings. His journey from arrogance to enlightenment mirrors the Buddhist path, emphasizing the importance of humility, learning, and devotion. 

Through Sun Wukong, “Journey to the West” explores the idea that even the most unruly spirits can achieve enlightenment through perseverance, guidance, and self-reflection.

Zhu Bajie, often referred to as Pigsy , is known for his complex and somewhat contradictory character traits. Originally a marshal in the celestial army, Zhu Bajie was banished to the mortal realm as a punishment for his indiscretions in heaven, particularly with the Moon Goddess,  Chang’e . 

Transformed into a pig-human hybrid, his appearance reflects his base nature and penchant for indulgence, especially in food and women. Despite these flaws, Zhu Bajie becomes one of Tang Sanzang’s disciples, joining the quest to retrieve the Buddhist scriptures from India.

Zhu Bajie’s personality is marked by a mix of bravery and cowardice, loyalty and self-interest, wisdom and folly. He often provides comic relief in the story through his antics and bumbling mistakes, yet his character also displays moments of insight and bravery. 

His earthly desires and tendencies towards laziness often put him at odds with his more disciplined and spiritually focused companions, particularly Sun Wukong, with whom he shares a rivalry.

While he deeply respects Tang Sanzang and is committed to the pilgrimage, his weaknesses often lead to complications and challenges for the group. However, these shortcomings make his moments of courage and sacrifice all the more significant, highlighting the theme of redemption and the possibility of moral and spiritual growth regardless of one’s past actions or nature.

Zhu Bajie’s character serves as a reflection on human nature, embodying the struggles between base desires and higher aspirations, between selfishness and altruism. His journey alongside Tang Sanzang is as much about his own redemption and transformation as it is about the physical pilgrimage to India.

Sha Wujing, or Sandy , is the third disciple who joins Tang Sanzang. Once a celestial general, Sha Wujing was banished to the mortal world as punishment for a transgression in heaven, where he was transformed into a river ogre. 

His frightening appearance belies a kind heart and a steadfast, loyal nature. Recognizing his past mistakes, Sha Wujing seeks redemption through service to Tang Sanzang on the perilous journey to the West.

Characteristically, Sha Wujing is the embodiment of stoicism and reliability. Compared to the more flamboyant Sun Wukong and the often comically flawed Zhu Bajie, Sha Wujing’s demeanor is subdued and earnest. 

He is less prone to the antics and disputes that sometimes ensnare his fellow disciples, showcasing a level of maturity and wisdom that stabilizes the group. His role is often that of the peacemaker, bridging gaps between his more temperamental companions and ensuring the pilgrimage remains focused on its spiritual goals.

Armed with a magic staff that he uses to combat demons and other threats, he is a formidable fighter in his own right. His knowledge of aquatic environments also proves invaluable, as many of the journey’s challenges take place near or in water.

The Journey to the West

The Origins

In the lush, mystical expanse of the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit, a stone egg, nurtured by the elements and the heavens, gave birth to Sun Wukong, the Monkey King. This miraculous birth marked the beginning of an extraordinary being destined to leave an indelible mark on the realms of gods and mortals alike. Possessing incredible strength, agility, and a keen intellect from birth, Sun Wukong quickly established himself as the king of the monkeys, securing their loyalty through his bravery and wisdom.

Driven by an insatiable curiosity and the fear of death, Sun Wukong embarked on a quest for immortality. His journey led him to the tutelage of a Taoist sage, from whom he learned the secrets of magical arts, shape-shifting, and the way of immortality. These newfound powers, coupled with his natural cunning and prowess, made Sun Wukong a being of unmatched ability.

However, with great power came a great desire for recognition and respect. Sun Wukong’s ambitions soon turned him against the celestial order. Seeking to claim his place among the gods and immortals, he caused havoc in the heavens, challenging the authority of the Jade Emperor himself. His antics and defiance led to a celestial war between his monkey army and the heavenly forces.

The turmoil caused by Sun Wukong could not go unpunished. Despite his might, he was eventually captured by the combined efforts of the Buddha and the celestial army. To curb his rebellious spirit, Buddha imprisoned Sun Wukong under the Five Elements Mountain, sealing him with a magical spell for five hundred years. This punishment was not just a consequence of his actions but also a pivotal moment of transformation. Under the mountain, Sun Wukong was forced to reflect on his deeds and the consequences of his unchecked ambition.

This period of imprisonment was a crucible, tempering Sun Wukong’s fiery spirit with a newfound understanding of responsibility and the importance of humility. It was here, in the shadow of his actions and under the weight of the mountain, that the foundation was laid for his redemption and eventual role as a protector on the journey to the West.

The Calling of Tang Sanzang

In the empire of the Tang Dynasty, under the watchful eyes of celestial beings, the birth of Tang Sanzang was foretold with a prophecy. He was destined to be no ordinary monk, but one whose journey would mark a pivotal moment in the spiritual fabric of the world. From an early age, Tang Sanzang displayed an uncommon devotion to his Buddhist faith, his heart set on understanding the deepest truths of existence and alleviating the suffering of all beings. His life was filled with piety, scholarship, and an unwavering commitment to the path of enlightenment, setting him apart as a vessel for divine purpose.

The turning point in Tang Sanzang’s life came through a divine revelation, where the  Bodhisattva Guanyin  presented him with a mission of paramount importance. He was to travel to the Western regions of India to retrieve sacred Buddhist scriptures not yet available in  China . These texts held the key to deepening the spiritual understanding and salvation for countless souls in his homeland. This was not just a journey across lands; it was a pilgrimage that would test the limits of his faith, endurance, and spirit.

The gravity of this mission was clear; the scriptures were vital for the propagation of Buddhism in China, promising a new era of spiritual insight and enlightenment. However, the path to the West was fraught with perils beyond imagination—demons, treacherous landscapes, and trials that would challenge the very essence of his being. It was a journey that no one could undertake alone and survive, let alone succeed.

Recognizing the monumental challenges that lay ahead, the Bodhisattva Guanyin promised Tang Sanzang divine assistance in the form of disciples who would protect and guide him through the dangers. These disciples, each with their own paths to redemption and enlightenment, were destined to be united with Tang Sanzang, forming an unlikely fellowship bound by a shared mission.

Thus began Tang Sanzang’s journey, a quest that was not only his own but one that carried the hopes and spiritual aspirations of the entire Buddhist community. With the divine mandate bestowed upon him, Tang Sanzang set forth, stepping into the annals of legend.

Assembling the Disciples

As Tang Sanzang began his perilous journey to the West, the first to join him was none other than Sun Wukong, the Monkey King. Freed from his five-century imprisonment under the Five Elements Mountain by Tang Sanzang himself, Sun Wukong was bound to him by a vow. This vow, forged in the fires of redemption (and the head-tightening band), was Sun Wukong’s promise to protect Tang Sanzang throughout the journey. The release symbolized not only Sun Wukong’s second chance but also the formation of an unbreakable bond between the disciple and his master. With his unparalleled martial prowess and magical abilities, Sun Wukong was a formidable protector, one whose loyalty and dedication to Tang Sanzang’s mission were beyond question.

The next to join this celestial mission was Zhu Bajie, once a marshal in the heavens, now living as a half-human, half-pig being as punishment for his lascivious behavior in the celestial realm. Encountered by Tang Sanzang and Sun Wukong, Zhu Bajie was persuaded to join the pilgrimage, seeking redemption for his past misdeeds.

Sha Wujing, the third disciple, was once a celestial general who, due to a grave mistake, was banished to a river, taking the form of a fearsome water ogre. His encounter with Tang Sanzang and the promise of redemption through service transformed Sha Wujing from a feared monster into a loyal disciple.

Together, these three disciples, each with their unique strengths, weaknesses, and backgrounds, formed the core of Tang Sanzang’s entourage. Their assembly was no mere coincidence but a divinely orchestrated gathering of souls seeking redemption, enlightenment, and the fulfillment of a sacred mission.

Trials and Tribulations

As Tang Sanzang and his newly assembled disciples embarked on their journey to the West, they were soon met with a series of trials that tested their resolve, unity, and individual capabilities. These challenges served not only as obstacles to be overcome but also as crucibles for character development and bonding among the pilgrims.

One of the first major trials they faced was the Black Wind Mountain, where a fierce demon known for capturing and eating travelers threatened their mission. It was here that Sun Wukong’s prowess and quick thinking were first put to the test, showcasing his ability to protect Tang Sanzang against seemingly insurmountable odds.

Another significant challenge came in the form of the White Bone Demon, a creature capable of changing its form to deceive and capture Tang Sanzang. This trial tested not only the physical strength of the disciples but also their wisdom and ability to see through deception.

These early trials also brought to the forefront the dynamics and interactions among the disciples. Sun Wukong’s impulsive nature and readiness to use force were often at odds with Tang Sanzang’s more compassionate and pacifistic approach, leading to tensions within the group. Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing, each with their distinct personalities and strengths, found themselves navigating the complex dynamics between their desire for redemption and the often chaotic leadership of Sun Wukong.

The Final Challenges

As Tang Sanzang and his disciples neared the end of their epic quest to retrieve the sacred scriptures from the West, they encountered the Fiery Mountain, a vast barrier of flames that seemed insurmountable. This natural obstacle was a metaphor for the burning trials of the spirit, a test of their resolve and unity. To pass, they needed the fan of the Princess Iron Fan, a task that proved to be as much about diplomacy and wisdom as it was about strength and courage. The quest for the fan was marked by deception and challenges that tested their patience and ingenuity, especially for Sun Wukong, whose confrontations with the Princess pushed him to find non-violent solutions.

Following this, the pilgrims faced the ordeal of the Tenfold Maze, a bewildering labyrinth that tested their mental endurance and faith. The Maze, crafted by powerful magic, represented the inner confusions and doubts that can lead one astray from the path of enlightenment. Each turn and dead end forced the disciples to rely not just on Sun Wukong’s strength or Zhu Bajie’s might, but on Tang Sanzang’s unwavering faith and Sha Wujing’s quiet determination. It was their unity and collective wisdom that eventually led them through the maze, symbolizing the triumph of shared purpose over individual despair.

Perhaps the most significant trial came in the form of a spiritual challenge directly from the Buddha. Before granting them the scriptures, Buddha tasked Tang Sanzang and his disciples with a final test of their virtues and understanding of the Buddhist teachings. This trial was not about battling demons or overcoming physical barriers but confronting their inner selves and the essence of their journey. Each disciple, including Tang Sanzang, faced manifestations of their past errors, fears, and desires, challenging them to apply the lessons of compassion, humility, and perseverance they had learned on their journey.

The confrontation with their inner demons was a profound moment for the pilgrims, especially for Sun Wukong, whose journey from rebel to protector had been fraught with pride and anger. For Zhu Bajie, it was a moment to transcend his baser instincts and desires, while Sha Wujing confronted the solitude and obscurity of his existence with newfound peace. For Tang Sanzang, it was the ultimate test of his faith and his commitment to his mission, proving his worthiness to receive the sacred texts.

Arrival in the West

After overcoming the final, daunting challenges set before them, Tang Sanzang and his disciples reached their sacred destination in the West. It was here, in the presence of the Buddha, that they were finally granted the sacred scriptures.

The attainment of the sacred scriptures was an achievement of monumental significance. For Tang Sanzang, it represented the fulfillment of a divine mission entrusted to him, affirming his unwavering faith and dedication. The scriptures themselves were not just texts but beacons of wisdom, destined to enlighten countless generations to come. Their acquisition symbolized the bridging of divine knowledge from the West to the East, promising an era of spiritual awakening and understanding for Tang Sanzang’s homeland.

For the disciples, the journey to the West and the acquisition of the scriptures were transformative. Sun Wukong, once a rebellious figure driven by pride and the desire for immortality, emerged as a being of enlightenment, his actions tempered by wisdom and compassion. The journey refined his character, turning his immense power and cunning into instruments of protection and service to a cause greater than himself. 

Upon their return to the Tang Empire, the pilgrims were received with reverence. The sacred scriptures were translated and spread, seeding the growth of Buddhism and its teachings throughout the land. The disciples, each awarded divine recognition for their service, achieved a form of enlightenment that transcended their former selves ( Both Sun Wukong and Tang Sanzang were turned into Buddhas .)

Summary of the Journey to the West

“Journey to the West” is a chronicling of the pilgrimage of the Buddhist monk Tang Sanzang and his quest to retrieve sacred scriptures from India. Alongside him are his three disciples: Sun Wukong, the Monkey King, with his unparalleled martial prowess and magical abilities; Zhu Bajie, the gluttonous and lecherous pig demon with a heart of gold; and Sha Wujing, the steadfast and reliable river demon. Each disciple, once celestial beings now seeking redemption for past transgressions, brings unique strengths and weaknesses to the journey, creating a dynamic and sometimes volatile mix of personalities.

The narrative begins with the birth and rise of Sun Wukong, who, after acquiring magical powers and challenging the heavens, is imprisoned under a mountain by the Buddha for his arrogance. Meanwhile, Tang Sanzang, chosen by the  Bodhisattva Guanyin , embarks on a mission to the West to obtain Buddhist sutras that will enlighten the East. Along the way, he liberates and recruits Sun Wukong, Zhu Bajie, and Sha Wujing, who vow to protect him in exchange for their spiritual redemption.

Their journey is fraught with peril, encountering a series of demons and monsters intent on capturing Tang Sanzang for their own gain. Each challenge tests the group’s resolve, faith, and unity, with Sun Wukong’s quick wit and might often saving the day. Despite their differences and the difficulties they face, the pilgrims learn valuable lessons in compassion, patience, humility, and perseverance. These trials serve not only as physical obstacles but as spiritual tests, refining each disciple’s character and strengthening their bonds.

The pilgrimage is marked by significant trials, from battling the fiery Red Boy and outsmarting the cunning Spider Demons to navigating the treacherous Flaming Mountain and the illusion-filled Tenfold Maze. Each ordeal brings them closer together, teaching them the importance of teamwork, sacrifice, and the pursuit of enlightenment.

Upon reaching the West and passing the final tests set by the Buddha, Tang Sanzang and his disciples are granted the scriptures. Their return to the Tang Empire is triumphant, with each disciple achieving enlightenment and recognition for their service. The sacred texts they bring back promise a new era of spiritual awakening for their homeland.

• Loyalty and Devotion:  The loyalty of Sun Wukong, Zhu Bajie, and Sha Wujing to Tang Sanzang is a central theme that underscores the importance of fidelity in the face of adversity. Their unwavering commitment to protect their master and ensure the successful retrieval of the sacred scriptures speaks to the value of loyalty in achieving a higher spiritual purpose.
• Perseverance through Trials:  The pilgrims’ journey is fraught with challenges that test their resolve, faith, and endurance. Each trial, whether it be a confrontation with demons or overcoming natural obstacles, symbolizes the inner struggles individuals face on their path to enlightenment.
• The Quest for Enlightenment: At its heart, “Journey to the West” is a spiritual odyssey that mirrors the Buddhist path to enlightenment. The journey to retrieve the scriptures symbolizes the pursuit of wisdom and understanding, essential for  liberation  from suffering and the cycle of rebirth. The transformations of the characters, especially the disciples, reflect the individual’s journey toward enlightenment, marked by self-discovery, repentance, and spiritual growth.
• The Battle between Good and Evil: The frequent encounters with demons and the celestial trials faced by Tang Sanzang and his disciples embody the eternal struggle between good and evil. This theme is not only external, in the battles with literal demons, but also internal, representing the moral and spiritual conflicts within each character.

• Characters as Symbolic Archetypes: The main characters of “Journey to the West” are rich in symbolic significance. Sun Wukong, with his rebellious nature and transformative journey, symbolizes the untamed mind and the potential for enlightenment through discipline and self-cultivation. Zhu Bajie represents human desires and flaws, highlighting the struggles and potential for redemption despite one’s imperfections. Sha Wujing embodies steadfastness and humility, qualities essential for spiritual progress.
• Events as Metaphors for Spiritual Lessons: Many of the events and trials encountered by the pilgrims are metaphors for spiritual lessons. For example, the crossing of the Flaming Mountain can be seen as a metaphor for overcoming the burning passions and attachments that hinder spiritual growth. The encounters with various demons can represent the overcoming of personal obstacles on the path to enlightenment.
• The Journey Itself: The journey to the West is symbolic of the Buddhist path towards enlightenment. It is fraught with difficulties and distractions, much like the spiritual journey of an individual.

Moral Lessons

• Redemption and the Potential for Change : The characters of “Journey to the West,” especially the disciples of Tang Sanzang, embody the theme of redemption and the belief in the potential for change. Sun Wukong, Zhu Bajie, and Sha Wujing, each banished for their transgressions, find in their journey an opportunity for transformation. Their willingness to protect Tang Sanzang and endure hardships for the sake of obtaining the sacred scriptures illustrates the possibility of redemption, regardless of past misdeeds. This reflects the Buddhist concept of  karma  and the idea that positive actions can counteract negative past actions, leading to spiritual growth and liberation.
• Virtue and Moral Integrity : Throughout the novel, Tang Sanzang serves as a moral compass, embodying virtue and moral integrity. His compassion, patience, and unwavering commitment to non-violence, even in the face of danger, highlight the importance of upholding one’s principles. Tang Sanzang’s interactions with demons, often opting for understanding and conversion rather than conflict, reinforce the novel’s message that compassion and wisdom are more powerful than force.
• The Pursuit of Knowledge and Enlightenment : “Journey to the West” places great emphasis on the pursuit of knowledge and enlightenment, both as a personal quest and for the benefit of others. The journey to obtain the Buddhist scriptures symbolizes the quest for spiritual knowledge and truth. This quest is not portrayed as easy or straightforward but rather as a path filled with obstacles that require perseverance, sacrifice, and moral fortitude to overcome.
• Humility and Self-Cultivation : Finally, “Journey to the West” teaches the importance of humility and self-cultivation. The characters, particularly Sun Wukong, learn to temper their pride and recognize their limitations. This humility, coupled with a commitment to self-improvement and spiritual cultivation, is portrayed as essential for growth and enlightenment. The novel thus conveys the moral lesson that true strength and wisdom come from understanding oneself, acknowledging one’s flaws, and striving for self-betterment.

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Journey to the West by Wu Cheng'en

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The journey to the west: a platform for learning about china past and present.

In US college students’ first course on China, the challenge for instructors is to pack the maximum amount of punch into the experience so that the course will inspire them to seek more opportunities to learn about China at and beyond the college level. One way to achieve this goal is to use a rich text with many applications to help students unpack the complexities of Chinese history, language, politics, economics, and thought. For this purpose, the sixteenth-century novel The Journey to the West, with its many incarnations, is ideal. 1 It features a rousing adventure story, which can be read as historical fiction, political satire, and religious allegory. The novel has been reproduced for many types of audiences in many different media, including children’s books, puppet shows, operas, comics, TV series, and movies; each version is different enough to allow instructors to discuss them in the context of important Chinese historical events and cultural elements. Because well-told stories help us make sense of the world, instructors can use this novel as a foundational element to facilitate students’ connections with and between the various elements of the course. In this article, we show how The Journey to the West and its multiple incarnations can be used to help students unpack the complexities of China as a subject and develop a critical awareness or appreciation for a culture different from their own. We first show how the story may be introduced in a way that sets students’ minds for embracing the immense complexity of humanity and Chinese culture. Then, we show how various elements and incarnations of the story can be used to facilitate discussions about some outstanding aspects of the Ming dynasty (1368–1644), Maoist China (1949–1976), and postreform Communist China.

A Glance at The Journey to the West

Developed into its full length in the sixteenth century, the 100-chapter novel The Journey to the West (The Journey hereafter) is believed to have its historical basis in the epic pilgrimage of the monk Xuanzang (c. 596–664) to India and has been a popular subject for storytellers since the late Tang dynasty. The fictionalized pilgrimage as depicted in the novel sees Xuanzang accompanied by four nonhuman disciples: Monkey, Pigsy, Sandy, and Dragon Horse. The four disciples have been expelled by the Daoist Celestial Court (i.e., Heaven) due to misbehaviors, but will beaccepted by the Bodhisattva Guanyin (AKA the Goddess of Mercy) into Buddhism on condition that they promise to assist Xuanzang’s pilgrimage.

The mischievous Monkey character and his dedicated master Xuanzang have the central roles in the novel, and the first thirteen chapters establish the backstories of how the two became destined for the journey. The exciting part of the tale begins in chapter 14, when Xuanzang releases Monkey from a mountain and together they embark on a journey filled with the humor of Monkey’s mischievous battles against bandits and demons, interspersed with moments of Buddhist enlightenment. Starting here, students get a taste of the original novel and are introduced to the two main characters. A useful in-class exercise is to brainstorm words to describe the two characters. Through this activity, students come to understand the complexity and contrast of the characters’ personalities and why this dynamic is so important not only for the success of the story, but also metaphorically for understanding the complex nature of Chinese culture and society. For example, how have the three distinct and often-contradictory teachings—Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism—been able to operate relatively harmoniously in the lived religious experience of everyday Chinese? An understanding of how each individual has contradictory tendencies and how a story needs such individuals to be successful will set students’ minds for embracing the complexity of the topics to be discussed in the course, such as the various adaptations of Monkey and The Journey, and how they relate to different aspects of China.

Learning about Traditional China through The Journey

Written in the late Ming dynasty (1368–1644) and based on a true event during the Tang dynasty (618–907), The Journey offers the opportunity to introduce two of the “golden eras” in Chinese history. With almost 4,000 years of written history, there is a lot of Chinese history to potentially cover, but for a course that seeks to introduce China studies through multiple disciplinary lenses, a focus on the Ming dynasty, alongside the more recent events of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, may suffice. The chapter on the Ming in Patricia Ebrey’s Cambridge Illustrated History of China offers a vivid depiction of Ming society. 2 After reading the chapter and watching episodes 2 and 3 from the 1986 TV series of The Journey , students can quickly map the hierarchical structure of the court of the Ming government onto that of the Celestial Court in The Journey . 3 Students can also connect Monkey’s eagerness to seek a position in the Celestial Court with the civil service examination in the Ming dynasty. 4 From these connections, students can get a sense of China’s hierarchical social structure and its traditional emphasis on self-improvement through education. These connections serve as foundations for students to understand the historical continuities and differences when discussing the political structure and educational system of contemporary China.

The history of the Ming dynasty is also important because it is one of the wealthiest eras in China’s history and has some interesting correlations with contemporary China, such as both being periods of international economic interactions. Employing The Journey as a fictional account of history offers a unique opportunity for the correspondences and differences between traditional and contemporary China to be highlighted and analyzed.

The syncretism of the three major teachings of traditional China, namely Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism, culminated when Ming General and statesman Wang Yangming’s (1472–1529) teaching of “learning of the mind” became popularized in the empire. Inspired by Chan (Japanese, Zen) Buddhist philosophy, Wang emphasized that a true understanding of the essence of morality can only be achieved through cultivating one’s own mind, which means persistent personal enactment of moral principles. The Journey depicts the lived religious experience of everyday Chinese. To help appreciate the interplay of belief systems, students can read Asian Studies Professor Joseph Adler’s Chinese Religious Traditions , accompanied by some application exercises to highlight the distinct reasoning patterns of the three major teachings. Such application exercises might include asking students to play the roles of hardcore Confucianists, Daoists, and Buddhists, who are requested to comment on such phenomena as family reverence, gender roles, death, humanity, and the vicissitudes of life.

At this point, students begin to realize that the journey actually represents the ongoing effort to end attachment to worldly things such as fame and money, which often make the mind susceptible to moral corruption. Students will also be able to identify the Confucian, Daoist, and Buddhist elements as they read other selected chapters from the novel and view other adaptations of the story, such as the movie Conquering the Demons . 5 Conquering the Demons is a fun movie to watch, and it presents a lively and modern interpretation of The Journey as Buddhist allegory. 6

The three major teachings and their syncretism should be included in an introductory course in their own right, but they also frame the Chinese worldview and inform people’s daily practices across much of East and Southeast Asia. A solid understanding can provide a useful lens for appreciating the perspectives and practices prevalent across the region. Further, discussing the three teachings offers the opportunity to remind students of the limitation of English translations of Chinese concepts, which is an important issue involved in cross-cultural studies. For example, the Chinese word zongjiao (the clan’s teaching), a compound that first appeared in Chinese translations of Buddhist sutras referring to different schools of Buddhist thoughts, has often been equated as religion and applied to Confucianism and Daoism. 7 Reflecting on what they have learned about traditional Chinese thought, students may discuss whether the three teachings, especially Confucianism, count as “religions” in the English sense.

The fact that novels like The Journey proliferated during the Ming dynasty reveals the advanced printing technology and expanded readership during the period. 8 This opens up a variety of different inquiries. For example, what kinds of books got printed? How was copyright handled? Who read the books? What social changes came with the printing technology? Questions like these lead students to discussions about various aspects of social life in the Ming, such as the role of media, censorship, literacy, leisure, and women’s education and social status. These topics could and should be revisited and expanded throughout the course. The roles of technology and media also provide a useful lens for understanding contemporary China.

Learning about Maoist China through The Journey

Maoist China refers to the period from the founding of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in 1949 to the launch of the Reform and Opening Up initiative in 1978. 9 The founding of the PRC was celebrated by much of the nation at the time as a great victory of the Chinese people over the oppression from imperialism, feudalism, and bureaucratic capitalism. Mao Zedong, the national leader of China from 1949 until 1976, was given the status of perfect hero or “the people’s great savior” by his cadres. 10 Of course history proved that despite some positive reforms, Mao was, along with Stalin and Hitler, one the twentieth century’s most evil tyrants. It was in such historical context that the mischievous Monkey was transformed into a proletarian revolutionary hero, as depicted in the cartoon movie Havoc in Heaven (AKA The Monkey King) and several of its immediate antecedents in popular art forms and in print. 11 To facilitate the discussion of the cartoon movie, background readings may include chapter 3 of Hongmei Sun’s book Transforming Monkey, which reviews the various adaptations of Monkey’s story up to the Mao years and discusses how the Monkey character was then transformed from trickster to hero.

From the 1963 cartoon movie’s depiction of the officials in the Celestial Court, students can see a prevalent Communist Chinese view of the backwardness of the alleged Chinese feudal system and the corruption of elites. By comparing the storyline of this cartoon with either the two episodes they have watched from the 1986 TV series, which also emphasize the story of Monkey’s uproar in Heaven, or chapters 3 to 7 in the novel, students will notice how the changes to the details of the cartoon make Monkey almost entirely an innocent victim of the Celestial Court. The cartoon’s ending with Monkey’s victory over the celestial troops without being subjugated by Buddha is also an interesting point for discussion. It symbolizes the victory of the proletarian revolutionaries, while ignoring religion.

Since media resources about Maoist China abound both online and in print, instructors can provide students with a list of events during this period, such as the Korean War (1950–1953), the Great Leap Forward (1958–1963), the China–USSR border dispute in the late 1960s, and the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976). Students can do research outside class and then present in class their analyses of why and how the events happened and were related. As a starting point, students should watch the documentary titled China: A Century of Revolution 1949–1976 on YouTube or read Clayton Brown’s EAA article, one of the most succinct and useful introductions to the Great Leap Forward. 12 The research and discussions should get students ready for the economic reformto come, which has been the direct cause of the economic boom that lifted hundreds of millions of Chinese out of abject poverty and a series of side effects, including corruption, environmental issues, and intensifying social inequality.

Learning about Postreform Communist China through The Journey

The launch of the Reform and Opening Up initiative by Deng Xiaoping (1904–1997) in 1978 marked a new era for China. Through a series of dramatic economic reforms and opening China’s economy to the outside world by 1980, this initiative transformed China into, until a few years ago, the world’s fastest-growing industrializing country and now the world’s second-largest economy. The famous Taiwanese cartoonist Tsai Chih-Chung’s comic version Journey to the West, first published in 1987, is an amusing way to introduce how the story was adapted to mock the popular social practices and perspectives during the early days of the economic reform. 13 The inclusion of this text allows instructors to remind students why The Journey remains relevant to China and Chinese peoples, as the numerous twentieth- and twenty-first-century adaptations demonstrate. It also offers a lighthearted insight into the impact of the economic reform period. Students may also read the first two chapters of Chinese–American journalist Leslie Chang’s Factory Girls and chapters from major contemporary Chinese author Yu Hua’s book China in Ten Words for vivid depictions of Chinese society during the economic boom, and discuss where China might go next.

Themes to be explored about contemporary China can revolve around media and the concept of “soft power.” Since the early twenty-first century, soft power has been a component of China’s national development strategy and the alleged goal of the PRC’s foreign policy. Media has been employed as an important tool for manipulating soft power. For some initial knowledge of media’s role in soft power, students may read the introduction and Wanning Sun’s chapter in Screening China’s Soft Power. Sun’s chapter raises the distinction between “soft power by design” and “soft power by accident.” 14 A nice media resource is the BBC’s two-minute cartoon ad for the Beijing Olympics. The cartoon features Monkey’s “journey to the East,” assuming a familiarity with the story among at least the BBC portion of the world audience. 15 A discussion of why the BBC chose Monkey for the ad will introduce students to questions about China’s viability for cultural export. Later in the course, The Journey can be related more directly to the Silk Road and in turn to the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), to be discussed in a later section.

For general knowledge of how different disciplines, such as economics and political science, have made sense of soft power and what soft power may mean for China, students can read China studies scholars Young Nam Cho and Jong Ho Jeong’s article “China’s Soft Power: Discussions, Resources, and Prospects” and social psychologist Kwang-kuo Hwang’s article “Face and Favor: The Chinese Power Game.” These readings present students with scholars’ ideas about China’s soft power potential and strategy. Cho and Jeong’s article also briefly describes the global context for China’s soft power initiative. To get a sense of China’s aggressiveness in cultural exports, students can read Media Studies Professor Aynne Kokas’s book Hollywood Made in China (particularly chapter 3), which discusses how China’s movie policy influences Hollywood, and media and democratic studies expert Shanthi Kalathil’s article “Beyond the Great Firewall,” which includes a comprehensive report of the measures China has been taking to manipulate the global information system. 16 With background knowledge obtained from these readings, students will be able to generate interesting discussions as they view the media products produced in contemporary China, such as the ones to be discussed in the following sections.

As Chinese society drastically changes, Monkey also experiences a major transformation—from a fighter to a lover who struggles to find his own identity. The transformation was marked by Stephen Chow’s movie A Chinese Odyssey (1995). Produced by a Hong Kong director two years before Hong Kong’s return to China, this movie has been interpreted as Hong Kong’s uncertainty about its fate after returning to China. 17 Discussion questions invite students to consider the symbolism of Joker’s (a human bandit leader who is initially unaware that he is the reincarnation of Monkey) resistance against transforming back into the hero Monkey. Further, the ending, which leaves the viewer with a deep sense of sadness and helplessness, can spark discussions about the physical and emotional losses that the characters undergo in their spiritual journey and the hard choices they are forced to make in order for their journey to be successful.

It is also worth comparing A Chinese Odyssey with the same director’s 2013 adaptation of The Journey, Conquering the Demons. A comparison of the different endings of the movies will make students curious about events occurring during the years between the two movies, notably the return of Hong Kong to China in 1997 and the CCP’s increasing interference in Hong Kong’s administration. The comparison can also illustrate the fall of Hong Kong’s Cantopop (i.e., pop music sung in Cantonese) in the age of China. 18 Reflecting this language shift, the 2013 movie adaptation, though produced in Hong Kong, is made in Mandarin instead of Cantonese and features more actors from Mainland China.

Aside from facilitating discussions of the politics and economics of language use in contemporary media, it is fair to say that A Chinese Odyssey has started a fad in more recent productions of The Journey . Not only do new movie adaptations of The Journey come out almost every year, there have also been cartoons, games, online novels, and even songs inspired by Monkey. Jin Hezai’s novel Wu Kong, first posted online in 2000, became so well-received in China that it was republished in print the following year. The novel is not available in English yet, but a movie adaptation of the same name, directed by Derek Kwok, was released in 2017, starring Eddie Peng, Shawn Yue, and Oho Ou, all of whom are popular young faces on the screen in China.

Wu Kong may be watched in its own right for its award-winning action choreography and the rebel spirit demonstrated by Monkey and his fellow fighters. The movie can be seen as an allegory of the individual fighting against the authoritarian system, which is represented by the Destiny Council in the movie. 19 Every 1,000 years, the Destiny Council administrates an exam to choose new immortals who can join the Destiny Academy and become candidates for positions in the Destiny Council. This exam mirrors China’s gaokao (college entrance examination), which brings about dramatic effects on people’s lives. Discussions of the movie can be supplemented with readings about China’s education system, especially the preparation and consequences of gaokao. 20 Students can explore gaokao independently and share their findings in class.

When connecting Wu Kong and gaokao, discussions can be guided to the role of family and authority/face in China. This brings back the Confucian worldview, whose fundamental metaphor is the family. In the Confucian tradition, the goal of self-cultivation is to keep the family in order, which is the prerequisite for being a leader who can put the nation in order and bring peace to the world. This understanding of the Chinese worldview becomes critical for coming to terms with some of the other elements of contemporary China’s engagement with the rest of the globe. 21

The concepts of family and authority/face, by themselves may sound familiar to students, but their unique interactions in Chinese society may go beyond students’ imaginations. A discussion of these concepts in relation to business practices and China’s foreign policy can provide very important lenses for understanding contemporary Chinese society and its global ambition, epitomized by the BRI and “the Chinese dream,” both associated with current Chinese President Xi Jinping. 22 The BRI has been a hot topic in the media, so after briefly introducing the “belt” and the “road” with a map, instructors may ask students to each identify a country of their interest and do research to find out what the BRI might mean for that country. Sharing their findings will provide the class with a more general picture of what the Chinese dream may entail and how China’s “journey to the West” may have extended beyond seeking the true teachings of Buddha from India and been geared toward exporting the traditional China-centered world order through the BRI.

Discussions about the China-centered world order will involve reviewing the Confucian concepts of self, family, nation, and the world (or tianxia in Chinese). Zhang Yimou’s movie Hero (2012) serves as an illustration of how a peaceful tianxia is traditionally believed to be achieved. Comparing the sacrifices and contributions of the protagonists in Hero and those of the protagonists in The Journey, students may consider the traditional Chinese ideal of “hero,” how it may adapt to the contemporary context, and how it differs from their own culture. This discussion may also lead to a discussion of China’s projected global role in the remainder of the twenty-first century and how it may be received by the rest of the world.

The purpose of an introductory course is to get students interested enough and academically prepared to explore the complexity and novelties of the subject. Using The Journey as the foundational element for an introductory course on China, instructors will be able to provide a tantalizing glimpse at the breadth of Chinese history, demonstrate the continuing importance of that history for understanding today’s China, and help students develop a critical awareness and appreciation for Chinese society and culture. The various adaptations of The Journey give students ready inroads for exploring the relevant content for an introductory course on China and introduce them to a variety of lenses to appreciate another culture while critically reflecting on their own.

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1. Since a few selected chapters will suffice for the purpose of the course, we recommend using an English version of the full novel. This could be either W. J. F. Jenner’s Journey to the West , 4 vols., reprint ed. (Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, 1984) or Anthony C. Yu’s The Journey to the West , 4 vols., revised ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2012).

2. Patricia B. Ebrey, Cambridge Illustrated History of China (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996), 190– 219. The titles suggested in this article are intended to be taken as suggestions found to be useful from experience rather than prescriptive requirements.

3. The 1986 TV series produced by CCTV is probably the version understood as the most authentic for many Chinese people. When the names of the characters of The Journey are mentioned, the images created by this TV series would be what many Chinese people picture in their minds.

4. The discussion about civil service examinations can be connected with contemporary China’s college entrance examination, AKA gaokao. Background readings may include Benjamin A. Elman’s article “Civil Service Examinations” in Education in China: Educational History, Models, and Initiatives, ed. Qiang Zha, Ruth Hayhoe, and Heidi Ross (Great Barrington, MA: Berkshire Publishing, 2013); chapter 6 of Yong Zhao’s book Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Dragon: Why China Has the Best (and Worst) Education System in the World (San Francisco: Jossey–Bass, 2014); and Hoi K. Suen and Lan Yu’s article “Chronic Consequences of High-Stakes Testing? Lessons from the Chinese Civil Service Exam” in Comparative Education Review 50, no. 1 (2006): 46–65.

5. Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons, directed by Stephen Chow and Derek Kwok (Hong Kong: Bingo Movie Development, 2013).

6. The movie Conquering the Demons may be seen as essentially about the spiritual transformation of Xuanzang, who was eventually able to get rid of his worldly attachments by facing and conquering them one by one. The three demons, whom Xuanzang encountered and conquered with the help of the demon hunter Ms. Duan (whose family name shares the same sound as the Chinese word for “to cut off”), may each symbolize a stubborn worldly attachment. That the conquered demons became Xuanzang’s companions on his journey to the west may be a symbol of his spiritual maturity as a Buddhist pilgrim.

7. Shenglai Zhou, “Origin and Evolution of zongjiao, a Word in Chinese,” Journal of Shanghai Normal University (Philosophy & Social Science Edition) 40, no. 5 (2011): 114–119. According to Zhou, the use of zongjiao as the Mandarin counterpart for “religion” is actually a nineteenth-century borrowing from the Japanese, who expanded the meaning of the term to match the Western concept.

8. Two useful readings on these topics are Anne E. McLaren’s chapter “Constructing New Reading Publics in Late Ming China,” in Cynthia J. Brokaw and Chow Kai-wing, eds. Printing and Book Culture in Late Imperial China (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2005) and Raymond Chang’s article “The Renaissance of Book Arts in the Ming Period,” The Journal of Library History (1974–1987) 16, no. 3 (1981): 501–508. 9.We readily acknowledge that events between the Ming dynasty and the Communist China period, such as two opium wars and two world wars, left significant traces on Chinese and world history. However, the Communist China period is more relevant to the students, most of whom (if they are interested in Asia at all) are interested in career opportunities outside the academic field. Therefore, it is appropriate for an introductory course to put more emphasis on Communist China when talking about modern China.

10. This term has been extracted from the Chinese song titled “The East Is Red,” whose lyrics idealize Mao as a perfect hero. This song was the de facto national anthem of the People’s Republic of China during the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s.

11. Hongmei Sun, Transforming Monkey (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2018), 83.

12. Clayton Brown, “China’s Great Leap Forward,” Education About Asia 17, no. 3 (2012): 29–34.

13. For instance, the social phenomena mocked in the chapter “A Duel with Buddha” include pirating, pursuit for instant profits, the enthusiasm for studying abroad in the USA, the serious littering at tourist sites, the attraction of the movie industry, and the popularity of instant noodles and other Western goods such as perfume, etc. Tsai Chi-Chung’s Journey to the West comic series is now available in English versions and bilingual versions. For the purpose of the course, selected chapters from the English translations published by Asiapac Books Pte. Ltd. in 1993 would suffice. For interested readers, the entire set of thirty-eight volumes were made available in 2006 by Modern Publishing House in China.

14. Wanning Sun, “Soft Power by Accident or by Design,” in Screening China’s Soft Power , eds. Paola Voci and Luo Hui (London: Routledge, 2017), 196.

15. Ollie Williams, “Monkey’s Journey Begins,” BBC Sport , May 28, 2008, https://tinyurl.com/54v79w.

16. Articles and books mentioned in this paragraph: Young Nam Cho and Jong Ho Jeong, “China’s Soft Power: Discussions, Resources, and Prospects,” Asian Survey 48, no. 3 (2008): 453–472; Kwang-kuo Hwang’s “Face and Favor: The Chinese Power Game,” American Journal of Sociology 92, no. 4 (1987): 944 –974; Aynne Kokas, Hollywood Made in China (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2017); and Shanthi Kalathil, “Beyond the Great Firewall,” Center for International Media Assistance, accessed April 4, 2019, http://tinyurl.com/y2xrsmke .

17. A Chinese Odyssey , directed by Stephen Chow (Beijing: Xi’an Film Studio, 1995). Also see Hongmei Sun, Transforming Monkey, 95.

18. Yiu-Wai Chu, Hong Kong Cantopop (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2017), 184–195.

19. Wu Kong, directed by Derek Wong (Beijing: New Classics Media, 2017). Based upon the 2000 online novel Wu Kong’s Biography by Jin Hezai. See also Derek Elley, “Review: Wu Kong (2017),” Sino-Cinema, 2017, accessed July 20, 2018, https://tinyurl.com/yx9ckaeg .

20. See note 4 above for suggested readings on gaokao.

21. Some background readings about the China-centered world order may include David Bell’s chapter “Realizing Tianxia: Traditional Values and China’s Foreign Policy,” in Chinese Visions of World Order, ed. Ban Wang (Durham: Duke University Press, 2017) and Suisheng Zhao’s article “Rethinking the Chinese World Order: The Imperial Cycle and the Rise of China,” Journal of Contemporary China 24, no. 96 (2015): 961–982.

22. The Chinese Dream, popularized in 2013, refers to the personal and national ideals for individuals and the government in China, including Chinese prosperity, collective effort, socialism, and national glory.

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• Jul 2, 2022

Classical Chinese Novels 101: Journey to the West

For centuries, the literati of China wrote in Literary Chinese, crafted rigidly-structured essays, delighted in allusive poetry—and looked down on fiction as a lesser form of writing. Despite this, the stories and characters of China’s traditional novels have long influenced popular culture, and they are still readily apparent in both modern Chinese and East Asian culture.

This 101 series will serve as a basic introduction to China’s Four Great Classical Novels, as well as the entertainingly divergent (and often banned) Ming classic, Plum in the Golden Vase . In addition to discussing the development of Chinese long-form vernacular fiction, these articles will seek to present different critical interpretations of each novel, as well as highlight the insights that they offer into Chinese culture. As this series is designed for those without knowledge of Chinese or just beginning their studies of the language, Chinese names will be given in English, Chinese pinyin, and characters for the first appearance, and all subsequent references will use the English.

Classical Chinese Novels 101 is divided into six chapters:

1. Classical Chinese Novels 101: Introduction to the Traditional Chinese Novel

2. Classical Chinese Novels 101: The Romance of the Three Kingdoms

3. Classical Chinese Novels 101: Water Margin

4. Classical Chinese Novels 101: Journey to the West

5. Classical Chinese Novels 101: The Plum in the Golden Vase

6. Classical Chinese Novels 101: Dream of the Red Chamber

Journey to the West , or Xiyouji (西游记), is a late Ming dynasty (1368-1644) novel of comedic fantasy based on the religious pilgrimage of a 7th-century Chinese Buddhist monk to India in search of religious scripts. Published in the late 16th century, with the earliest extant edition dating back to 1592, Journey to the West is a hundred-chapter novel attributed to the author Wu Cheng’an.

As with Water Margin and Romance of the Three Kingdoms , the authorship of Journey to the West is still disputed (Hsia, 1968; Lee, 2010; Yu, 2008). Also like the earlier two novels, Journey to the West appears to be the lengthy culmination of a long history of narrative development. Based on the historical travels of Xuanzang, a monk who travelled to India in the early 7th century and brought back 657 Buddhist texts, the eventual folk legends that developed out of this historical pilgrimage gained ever-more fantastical elements through centuries of storytelling, from Song dynasty (960-1279) oral stories to Yuan (1271-1368) and Ming dynasty dramas (Hsia, 1968; Lee, 2010).

Though similar in development to Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Water Margin , Journey to the West represents an evolution in the traditional Chinese novel. While the ultimate identity of its author is still disputed, the novel itself is widely seen as the product of one primary author rather than a product of the type of composite authorship usually mentioned in relation to the earlier traditional novels. As the well-regarded Chinese literature professor Y. W. Ma writes, “There should not be much doubt that a single author is responsible for the extant one-hundred chapter version of the novel” (Ma, 1986:43). Indeed, Ma considers Journey to the West as one of the two novels that represent the height of Ming dynasty fiction (the second being Plum in the Golden Vase ) (Ma, 1986).

The basic structure and narrative of Journey to the West are, at first appearance, relatively simple and episodic. It begins with the tale of Sun Wukong, a monkey born from a stone who gains consciousness and then attempts to seek immortality and power. Sun Wukong, also called Monkey, rebels against Heaven and has a confrontation with the Buddha, who defeats Monkey and traps him beneath a mountain. Later, Tang Sanzang, courtesy name Tripitaka, is sent by the Tang Emperor on a mission west to find sacred Buddhist texts. Along his way, Tripitaka recruits companions who serve as his protectors and disciples; his first follower is the freed Monkey, who is bound to obey him by the Bodhisattva Guanyin (Guanyin, also a Chinese goddess of mercy, is an enlightened patron to the travellers; she appears recurringly to save them, and sometimes to test them.). His other companions are Zhu Bajie, or Pigsy in the acclaimed Arthur Waley abridged translation (1942), and Sha Wujing, or Sandy. Together, the pilgrimage members encounter and overcome (sometimes with the help of Guanyin) eighty-one trials involving demon-fighting and resisting temptation before reaching the end of their journey.

Despite its simple structure, the novel stands out among the traditional novels for its vivacious comedy and sense of fun. The 20th-century scholar and Chinese ambassador to the United States, Hu Shih, specifically emphasized the novel as a book of good humor and entertainment (Lee, 2010). Though Hu Shih was arguing for an appreciation of Journey to the West separate from its history of scrutiny and philosophical analysis, the novel is undeniably allegorical, philosophical, and rich with possible interpretations.

To begin with, Journey to the West is a novel based on the historical pilgrimage of Xuanzang. In addition to the religious journey where the main characters discuss Buddhist tenets with each other, the language of the novel borrows heavily from Taoist and Confucian texts, incorporating well-known ideas and phrases from the other two Chinese religions. For example, in his article “Formation and Fiction in Journey to the West ,” scholar Anthony Yu (2008) points out that the decision to make the fictional Tripitaka an envoy of the Tang emperor, a marked departure from the historical Xuanzang who went to India in secret and asked for pardon on his return, aligns the character more with the archetype of the traditional Confucian official-scholar. Furthermore, the character Tripitaka is far from the pious, calm traveller that one might expect given his fictional identity as either a reincarnated earth-bound dweller of Buddha’s Western Paradise, or as the fictionalized version of a devoutly religious historical pilgrim. Instead, as C. T. Hsia succinctly puts it, “he is merely helpless” (Hsia, 1968:117). A constant victim of the various ordeals the group faces, Tipitaka is nervous, fearful, and worried about completing his mission for the emperor, and requires continually rescuing. While Tripitaka’s weaknesses, complemented by Monkey’s endless mischievousness and Pigsy’s gluttony, are the main elements of comedy in the novel, they also serve greater allegorical purposes.

Many scholars, including C.T. Hsia (1968), Andrew Plaks (2015), and Anthony Yu (2008), highlight the division between Tripitaka as the all-too-human leader of the party and Monkey as the representation of the “mind” of the party in accordance with a Chinese idiomatic expression that refers to the “monkey of the mind.” This characterization of the party as separate parts of one being, supports an allegorical reading of Journey to the West which sees the eighty-one ordeals faced by the pilgrimage party, as well as the tensions between them as commentary on the proper cultivation of the heart and mind. Though Chinese expression about the "monkey of the mind" originated in Buddhist texts, by the time of Journey of the West, it was a syncretic Buddhist, Neo-Confucian and Taoist idea. At the same time, other allegorical readings focus on its treatment of Buddhist enlightenment. In The Four Masterworks of the Ming Novel , Andrew Plaks (2015) outlines how characteristics like Tripitaka’s concern for his own comfort, Pigsy’s gluttony and sensual desires, and Monkey’s quest for power are allegories for the different kinds of physical and spiritual impediments to Enlightenment. Hsia (1968) goes further in describing how Tripitaka’s continued attachments, both physical and spiritual, cause part of his susceptibility to demons' attacks and temptations; his compassion and other kindly emotions, while well-meaning, lead to more trouble. Meanwhile, Monkey’s humor, liveliness, and general disregard for others, which often offends Tripitaka’s sense of propriety and morality, is more truly aligned with Buddhist non-attachment.

In Hsia’s interpretation of the novel, the Heart Sutra received by Tripitaka at the beginning of his journey is the central message of the allegory (Hsia, 1968). The Heart Sutra teaches that “form is emptiness, and the very emptiness is form,” but Tripitaka and his fellow travellers show through their eighty-one ordeals that they are too attached to their comforts and desires (the form) (Hsia, 1968:119). Monkey, who more easily rejects his physical attachments—in one highly allegorical scene, he kills thieves called Ear, Eye, Nose, Tongue, Mind, and Body against Tripitaka's wishes—fails to find the enlightenment (the emptiness) described by the Heart Sutra because deliberately seeking enlightenment is also a form of attachment. The novel offers a representation of and commentary on the seeming paradox of attaining enlightenment (Hsia, 1968). Anthony Yu (2008) recalls other traditional interpretations of Journey to the West which indicate that the novel represents the Three-Religions-in-One ideology (Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism) that was common among contemporary Ming scholars. Andrew Plaks, for his part, argues that the novel is ultimately a “ psychomania of the process of the cultivation of the mind as construed by sixteenth-century thinkers” (2015:258). In Plaks’ reading, the allegorical meaning of the novel is an exploration of the conflicts relating to the cultivation of the mind while playing with the available language and motifs of Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism.

The various interpretations, or the arguments against excessive interpretations, aside, Journey to the West remains a beloved novel for its mixture of comedy and fantasy. Though the journey made by Tripitaka, Monkey, and the others is a story that has been retold countless times in Chinese and East Asian culture in dramas, movies, televisions shows, video games, and children's literature, English readers interested in becoming acquainted with this lively story can start with Arthur Waley’s translation before diving into the allegorical complexities of China’s three religions. Waley’s renamed version, Monkey , does great justice to the character who is arguably the most interesting and compelling figure of the novel: the fun, mischievous, and powerful Monkey King.

Bibliographical References

Hsia, C. T. (1968). The Classic Chinese Novel: A Critical Introduction = Zhongguo gudian xiaoshuo . New York Columbia University Press.

Lee, W. (2010). Full-Length Vernacular Fiction. In V. H. Mair (Ed.), The Columbia history of Chinese literature . Columbia University Press.

Ma, Y. W. (1986). Fiction. In W. H. Nienhauser (Ed.), The Indiana Companion to Chinese Literature (pp. 31–48). Indiana University Press.

Plaks, A. H. (2015). The Four Masterworks of the Ming Novel: Ssu ta ch’i-shu . Princeton University Press.

Yu, A. C. (2008). The Formation of Fiction in the “Journey to the West.” Asia Major , 21 (1), 15–44. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41649940

Visual Sources

Figure 1: Yoshitoshi, T. (Early 1880s). Sun Wukong Blows on His Hairs [woodblock print; ink and color on paper]. Museum of Fine Arts Boston. Retrieved June 30, 2022, from https://collections.mfa.org/objects/215182/sun-wukong-blows-on-his-hairs-goku-ke-o-fuku-jo-and-uba-

Figure 2: Unknown. (1690-1720). Monkey Battles the Spider Spirit [woodblock print]. The British Museum. Retrieved June 30, 2022, from https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/A_1928-0323-0-20

Figure 3: Donshu, Ohara. (1815-1857). Priest Xuanzang and his attendants from the Xijouji [hanging scroll; ink and color on silk]. The British Museum. Retrieved June 30, 2022, from https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/image/36401001

Figure 4: Wiyono, L. D. (2014). Sun Wukong, the Infamous Monkey King [digital illustration]. Retrieved June 30, 2022, from https://www.flickr.com/photos/louisdavilla/14220881646/in/photostream/

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Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons

Tang Sanzang, an aspiring Buddhist hero tries to protect a village from three demons. He develops complex feelings for Miss Duan, the demon hunter who repeatedly helps him, and finally quest... Read all Tang Sanzang, an aspiring Buddhist hero tries to protect a village from three demons. He develops complex feelings for Miss Duan, the demon hunter who repeatedly helps him, and finally quests to meet the legendary Monkey King. Tang Sanzang, an aspiring Buddhist hero tries to protect a village from three demons. He develops complex feelings for Miss Duan, the demon hunter who repeatedly helps him, and finally quests to meet the legendary Monkey King.

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• 2 wins & 21 nominations

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• Connections Followed by Journey to the West: The Demons Strike Back (2017)
• Soundtracks Love In A Life Time Composed by Lowell Lo Original Lyrics by Tang Shu Chen Lyrics by Wendyz Zheng Performed by Shu Qi Imar Music Entertainment Co., Ltd. Rock Music Publishing Co., Ltd.

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• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Foreign Languages Press; 1st edition (January 1, 2003)
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