This week we meet one of the least mentioned members of our party, Xuanzang’s horse. I think it’s easy to forget that he’s no ordinary horse even though Guanyin herself…
Tag: journey to the west
In this chapter, Xuanzang (aka Tripitaka) begins his journey and almost immediately loses nearly everything. His servants are devoured by monsters when he stumbles on their front door, and then…
This week sees the emperor, Tang Taizong, attempt to keep good on all the promises he made while in the underworld. Like the farming couple who stockpiled rooms full of…
We had a really great time sitting down with Jim McClanahan whose blog, Journey to the West Research is a wealth of information on all things Monkey King and his…
The chapter opens on the capital of the Tang Dynasty, under the reign of emperor Taizong. Now, this is no ordinary emperor, but one of the most renowned in Chinese…
This chapter starts with a public execution and ends with a banquet. While the two might seem distasteful when combined for modern sensibilities, ancient peoples didn’t feel this way. Ancient…
This time we open with the arrival of the Goddess of Mercy, Bodhisattva Guanyin, who is a kind of Virgin Mary figure for the East. She fills many similar roles…
The stealing of the Peaches of Immortality is another favorite theme explored by many artists throughout Chinese history. While we tend to associate monkeys with bananas, in China, monkeys are…
This week sees the real start of the Monkey King’s rise to power. Coming home to a giant scimitar-wielding monster, Wukong realizes that his fellow monkeys must learn to defend…