Journey to the West (2005) 西游记
Author: Huang Yongnian / Huang Shoucheng
Publisher: Zhonghua Book Company
Format: Paperback
Date: April 2005
Pages: 550
ISBN: 9787101046113
Language: Chinese
Adaptation: Retelling
Summary:
Journey to the West primarily depicts the story of Sun Wukong (the Monkey King) escorting the monk Tang Seng (Tripitaka) on a pilgrimage to the Western Heaven to retrieve Buddhist scriptures, a journey fraught with eighty-one trials and tribulations. The pilgrimage itself was a historical event. Over thirteen hundred years ago—specifically in the first year of the Zhenguan reign (627) under Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty—a young monk named Xuanzang, then only twenty-five, left the capital of Chang'an to travel alone to Tianzhu (India) in pursuit of knowledge. Setting out from Chang'an, he traversed Central Asia, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, overcoming immense hardships and dangers before finally reaching India. He studied there for more than two years and won acclaim as a keynote speaker at a major Buddhist scholastic debate. Xuanzang returned to Chang'an in the nineteenth year of the Zhenguan reign (645), bringing back 657 Buddhist scriptures. Spanning nineteen years and covering tens of thousands of li, his journey was a legendary odyssey that caused a sensation at the time. Later, Xuanzang recounted his experiences, which his disciple Bianji compiled into the twelve-volume Great Tang Records on the Western Regions (Da Tang Xiyu Ji). However, that work focused primarily on the history, geography, and transportation of the lands he visited, containing little in the way of narrative storytelling. It was not until his disciples Huili and Yanzong wrote A Biography of the Tripitaka Master of the Great Ci'en Monastery of the Great Tang that a mythical dimension was added to Xuanzang's experiences; from then on, the story of Tang Seng's pilgrimage began to circulate widely among the common people. Works such as the Southern Song Story-telling of the Tripitaka Master of the Great Tang Fetching Scriptures, Jin Dynasty yuanben plays like Tang Sanzang and The Flat Peach Banquet, and Yuan zaju dramas—such as Wu Changling's Tang Sanzang Fetches Scriptures from the Western Heaven and the anonymous Erlang Shen Chains the Great Sage—all laid the foundation for the creation of Journey to the West. It was upon this basis of folklore, storytelling scripts, and theatrical traditions that Wu Cheng'en—through painstaking creative effort—completed this great literary masterpiece, a source of pride for the Chinese nation.
