Journey to the West: The Monkey King

Meet the voices

• Narrator · 旁白 — An old storyteller who has told the Monkey King's story by the fire more times than he can count.
• Sun Wukong · 孙悟空 — A monkey born from a stone: cheeky, brave, proud and funny, and afraid of only one thing, growing old.
• Old Monkey · 老猴 — The oldest monkey on Flower Fruit Mountain, who knows a little about everything and loves his young king like a grandson.
• Little Monkey · 小猴 — The smallest monkey on the mountain, who says out loud whatever all the other monkeys are thinking.
• the Jade Emperor · 玉皇大帝 — The calm ruler of heaven, who would much rather keep the peace than fight a monkey.
• Woodcutter · 樵夫 — A poor woodcutter on the far western mountain who chants a little rhyme an immortal neighbor taught him.
• Master Subodhi · 须菩提祖师 — An ancient master of the Way on a faraway mountain, who can see straight through his cleverest student.
• Fellow student · 师兄 — One of the master's older students, who is dying to see what the new monkey can do.
• Dragon King of the Eastern Sea · 东海龙王 — The proud old ruler of the Eastern Sea, whose underwater palace is full of treasures and who is not used to visitors like this one.
• King Yama · 阎王 — A king of the Underworld, where the Book of Life and Death is kept.
• Taibai Jinxing · 太白金星 — A kindly old star god, the Jade Emperor's messenger and peacemaker.
• Fairy in Red · 红衣仙女 — The leader of the Queen Mother's seven fairies, sent to pick peaches for the Peach Banquet.
• Laozi, the Supreme Old Lord · 太上老君 — Heaven's great alchemist, keeper of the golden pills and the Eight Trigrams Furnace.
• Guanyin · 观音菩萨 — The Bodhisattva of mercy from the Southern Sea.
• Erlang Shen · 二郎神 — The Jade Emperor's nephew, a warrior god with a third eye and a slender hound, who can match Wukong change for change.
• the Buddha · 如来佛祖 — The Buddha of the Western Heaven: calm, smiling and not at all worried by the monkey.

25 chapters in 5 parts

Part 1: Born from a Stone 石头里的猴子

Part 2: Sun Wukong 孙悟空

Part 3: The Staff and the Book 金箍棒和生死簿

Part 4: A Monkey in Heaven 天上的猴子

Part 5: Havoc in Heaven 大闹天宫

Key words in Journey to the West: The Monkey King

• 师父 shī fu: master
• 官 guān: official
• 天上 tiān shàng: heaven
• 变 biàn: to change
• 宝贝 bǎo bèi: treasure
• 铁 tiě: iron
• 武器 wǔ qì: weapon
• 邻居 lín jū: neighbor
• 跪 guì: to kneel
• 石头 shí tou: stone

Behind the story

Journey to the West (西游记) is a 16th-century Chinese novel, one of the Four Great Classical Novels, usually credited to Wu Cheng'en (吴承恩); its oldest surviving edition was printed in 1592. Its hundred chapters follow the monk Tang Sanzang on the long road west to India, but the opening chapters tell the Monkey King's own story, from his birth out of a stone to the day the Buddha traps him under Five Elements Mountain (五行山).

This graded adaptation follows the novel's first eight chapters closely over 25 chapters, from the stone on Flower Fruit Mountain (花果山) to the five hundred years under the mountain and Guanyin's promise of a way out. The journey west itself begins in The Four Pilgrims.

Did you know?

• His teacher gave him the surname 孙 because he looked like a 猢狲 (húsūn), an old word for monkey. Take the “animal” side off the character 狲 and 孙 is what's left.
• One somersault on his cloud carries him 十万八千里, 108,000 li. People still use the number for anything far off: an answer that is 差了十万八千里 is miles off the mark.
• In the novel, one day in heaven is a whole year on earth (天上一天，地上一年). That is why his half month in heaven's stables lasts more than ten years for the monkeys at home.