Journey to the West (2 volumes) Author: Wu Chengen / Annotator: Huang Suqiu Publisher: People's Literature Publishing House

Introduction
Journey to the West mainly describes the story of Sun Wukong protecting Tang Monk on his journey to the West to obtain Buddhist scriptures, and how they experienced 81 trials and tribulations. Tang Monk's journey to the West to obtain Buddhist scriptures is a true story in history. About 1,300 years ago, in the first year of Emperor Taizong's Zhenguan reign (627), Xuanzang, a 25-year-old young monk, left the capital Chang'an and traveled alone to Tianzhu (India) to study. After he set out from Chang'an, he passed through Central Asia, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, and finally arrived in India after going through many hardships and dangers. He studied there for more than two years and was praised for being the main speaker at a large-scale Buddhist scripture debate. In the 19th year of Zhenguan reign (645), Xuanzang returned to Chang'an and brought back 657 Buddhist scriptures. His journey to the West took him 19 years and covered tens of thousands of miles. It was a legendary journey of thousands of miles and caused a sensation. Later, Xuanzang orally narrated his experiences on the journey to the West, which were compiled by his disciple Bian Ji into the 12-volume Great Tang Records on the Western Regions. However, this book mainly describes the history, geography, and transportation of the countries he saw on the way, and does not contain any stories. The Biography of Tripitaka Master of the Great Ci'en Temple of the Great Tang Dynasty written by his disciples Huili and Yancong added a lot of mythological colors to Xuanzang's experience. From then on, the story of Tang Monk's journey to the West began to spread widely among the people. In the Southern Song Dynasty, there was "Poetry and Talks on Tripitaka's Journey to the West", in the Jin Dynasty, there were "Tang Tripitaka" and "Peach Banquet", and in the Yuan Dynasty, there were Wu Changling's "Tang Tripitaka's Journey to the West" and "Erlang Shen Locks the Great Sage Qi" by an unknown author, all of which laid the foundation for the creation of "Journey to the West". It was on the basis of folk legends, vernacular novels and operas that Wu Chengen completed this great literary masterpiece that made the Chinese nation proud after arduous re-creation. Wu Chengen, with the courtesy name Ruzhong and the pseudonym Sheyang Shanren, was from Shanyang, Huai'an Prefecture (now Huai'an City, Jiangsu Province). He was born between the 13th year of Hongzhi and the beginning of Zhengde in the Ming Dynasty (1500-1510) and died around the 10th year of Wanli (1582). Wu Chengen's great-grandfather and grandfather were both scholars who served as instructors and teachers in the county school. But when it came to his father Wu Rui's generation, due to his family's poverty, he married into the Xu family and "inherited the Xu family's business and sat in a shop" and became a small businessman. Despite this, the Wu family did not lose the tradition of reading. It is said that although his father Wu Rui was a businessman, he was not only a decent person, but also liked to read and talk about current affairs, which naturally had a great influence on Wu Chengen. Wu Chengen was very smart since he was a child. He entered school very early, was successful at a young age, and was famous in the village. Volume 16 of Tianqi's "Huai'an Prefecture Records" said that Wu Chengen "was quick-witted and intelligent, and was well-versed in many books. He wrote poems and essays as soon as he wrote them." But Wu Chengen's adulthood was not smooth. He suffered repeated setbacks on the road to imperial examinations. He was only in his forties and became a tribute student. In his fifties, he served as the county magistrate of Changxing, Zhejiang, and later served as the Jishan of Jingwang Mansion, which was a sinecure at the same level as the county magistrate. Wu Cheng'en wrote Journey to the West after his middle age, or in his later years, but the exact time cannot be determined. In addition to Journey to the West, he also wrote the long poem Song of Erlang Searching the Mountain and Records of Yuding. The existing four volumes of Sheyang Xiansheng's Manuscripts include one volume of poetry and three volumes of prose, which were compiled by Qiu Du after Wu Cheng'en's death. Journey to the West has 100 chapters, which can be divided into three parts from a large structural point of view. The first to eighth chapters are the first part, which mainly describes the birth of Sun Wukong, his apprenticeship, and the havoc in the Heavenly Palace. This is the most exciting chapter in the book, which is very lively. Sun Wukong has a lot of troubles in the heavens and on the earth, which fully demonstrates his rebellious character. The eighth to twelfth chapters are the second part, which mainly describes the origin of Tang Monk and the reason for his journey to the West. The third part is mainly about Tang Monk's journey to the West to seek Buddhist scriptures. On the way, he successively accepted three disciples, Sun Wukong, Zhu Bajie and Sha Monk. After going through 81 difficulties, he finally obtained the true scriptures and achieved the right result. "Journey to the West" shows people a colorful world of gods and demons, and people are all amazed by the author's rich and bold artistic imagination. However, any literary work is a reflection of a certain social life, and "Journey to the West", as an outstanding representative of the novel of gods and demons, is no exception. As Mr. Lu Xun pointed out in "A Brief History of Chinese Fiction", "Journey to the West" "takes the current social situation for satire and ridicule, and describes it extravagantly". He also said: "The author's nature is 'good at comedy', so although he describes the changing and vague things, he also mixes in some humorous words, making the gods and demons have human feelings, and the spirits and demons are also worldly." It is true. Through the illusory world of gods and demons in "Journey to the West", we can see the projection of real society everywhere. For example, in the creation of the image of Sun Wukong, the author's ideal is placed. Sun Wukong's indomitable fighting spirit, his fearless spirit of raising his golden hoop and sweeping away all demons and monsters, reflects the people's wishes and demands. He represents a force of justice and shows the people's belief in victory over all difficulties. For example, the demons encountered on the journey to obtain scriptures are either the illusion of natural disasters or the symbol of evil forces. Their greed, cruelty, insidiousness and cunning are also the characteristics of the dark forces in feudal society. Not only that, the heavenly palace ruled by the Jade Emperor and the Western Paradise governed by the Buddha are also heavily painted with the color of human society. The author's attitude towards the highest rulers of feudal society is also quite interesting. In "Journey to the West", there is simply no competent emperor; as for the incompetent Jade Emperor, the King of Chechi Kingdom who favors demons, and the King of Bhikkhu Kingdom who wants to use children's hearts and livers as medicine, they are either incompetent or tyrants. The portrayal of these images, even if they are picked up at random, has a strong practical significance. "Journey to the West" not only has profound ideological content, but also has achieved great artistic achievements. It has built a unique "Journey to the West" art palace with rich and strange artistic imagination, vivid and tortuous storyline, lifelike characters, and humorous language. But I think the greatest artistic achievement of "Journey to the West" is the successful creation of two immortal artistic images, Sun Wukong and Zhu Bajie. Sun Wukong is the first protagonist in "Journey to the West" and is a very remarkable hero. He has infinite skills, is fearless, and has an unyielding spirit of resistance. He has the extraordinary bearing of a great hero, but also has the disadvantage of loving to listen to compliments. He is witty, brave, humorous and playful. And his greatest characteristic is that he dares to fight. He dared to fight the supreme Jade Emperor, and was named "The Great Sage Equaling Heaven"; he dared to fight demons and monsters, and his fiery eyes would never let go of a demon, and he would never show mercy to demons under the Ruyi Golden Hoop; he dared to fight all difficulties and never retreated. This is Sun Wukong, a brilliant mythical hero. Speaking of Zhu Bajie, his ability is far inferior to Sun Wukong, let alone any glory and greatness, but this image is also very well portrayed. Zhu Bajie is a comic image. He is honest and simple, strong, and dares to fight against demons. He is Sun Wukong's first right-hand man. But he is full of problems, such as eating, taking advantage of small things, loving women, fearing difficulties, often backing down, and always thinking about Gao Laozhuang's wife; he sometimes likes to tell a lie, but he is clumsy and can't make it round; he also provokes Tang Monk to recite the tight hoop curse from time to time, so that Sun Wukong suffers a little; he even hides some private money and puts it in his ears. He has many problems, which is exactly the bad habit of small private owners. The author's criticism of Zhu Bajie's shortcomings is very severe, but well-intentioned. He is not a negative character, so people do not hate Zhu Bajie, on the contrary, they feel that he is very real and cute. The image of Tang Monk is also well written, but it is much inferior to that of Sun Wukong and Zhu Bajie. Sha Monk lacks distinct personality traits, which can be said to be a shortcoming of "Journey to the West". Despite this, the artistic achievements of "Journey to the West" are still very amazing. The two images of Sun Wukong and Zhu Bajie, with their distinct personality traits, have established an immortal artistic monument in the history of Chinese literature.