Traditional Chinese legend, retold in simple Mandarin
Journey to the West: The White Bone Demon
西游记：三打白骨精
Journey to the West: The White Bone Demon (西游记：三打白骨精, Xīyóujì: Sān dǎ Báigǔjīng) is a story from Journey to the West, the Chinese classic by Wu Cheng'en, retold in simple Mandarin as a 6-chapter story with audio for learners at about HSK 3 (Intermediate).
Retold from Wu Cheng'en's classic novel Journey to the West: a demon comes to Tang Seng three times in three disguises. Only the Monkey King can see through her, but his gentle master won't believe him.
Meet the voices
- Narrator · 旁白 — An old storyteller who tells how a demon in three disguises came between the Monkey King and his master.
- Sun Wukong · 孙悟空 — The Monkey King, Tang Seng's first disciple: his fiery golden eyes can see through any disguise, but his gentle master cannot.
- Tang Seng · 唐僧 — A gentle, soft-hearted monk on the long road west, who cannot bear to see anyone hurt, even someone who is not what they seem.
- Zhu Bajie · 猪八戒 — The pig-faced second disciple: lazy, greedy, always hungry, and quick to stir up trouble for the monkey.
- Sha Wujing · 沙悟净 — The quiet third disciple, steady and loyal, who carries the luggage, says little and sees a lot.
- The White Bone Demon · 白骨精 — A demon of white bones on White Tiger Ridge who believes one bite of Tang Seng will let her live forever.
- Village Girl · 村姑 — The demon's first disguise: a sweet village girl bringing lunch to her husband in the fields.
- Old Woman · 老婆婆 — The demon's second disguise: a weeping old woman searching for her lost daughter.
- Old Man · 老公公 — The demon's third disguise: a pious old man chanting prayers as he looks for his wife and daughter.
- White Dragon Horse · 小白龙 — Tang Seng's white horse, who is really the Little White Dragon and hardly ever says a word.
6 chapters, one journey
Chapter 1: The Girl with the Rice Jar
送饭的姑娘
Tang Seng is starving on a lonely mountain, so a pretty girl with a jar of rice seems like a gift from heaven. Only Wukong's golden eyes can see what she really is.
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Chapter 2: The Weeping Old Woman
找女儿的老婆婆
An old woman comes down the mountain, weeping for her lost daughter. Bajie is sure she is the girl's mother. Wukong's golden eyes see something else.
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Chapter 3: The Third Strike
第三次
A gentle old man comes looking for his wife and daughter. Wukong knows exactly who he is, and that striking a third time could cost him everything.
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Chapter 4: Four Monkeys Say Goodbye
四个悟空
Sent away, Wukong has one last way to say goodbye. But with the monkey gone, someone has been waiting for Tang Seng to be alone.
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Chapter 5: Bajie Goes to Flower Fruit Mountain
八戒请猴哥
The demon's pot is on the fire and Tang Seng is tied up. Someone has to fetch Wukong, and the only one left is the pig who got him sent away.
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Chapter 6: The Monkey Comes Back
悟空回来了
Bajie has one trick left to bring Wukong back. But can the monkey catch a demon who always escapes, and will Master believe him this time?
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Key words in Journey to the West: The White Bone Demon
Behind the story
This book retells chapter 27 of Journey to the West (西游记), the 16th-century novel usually credited to Wu Cheng'en (吴承恩), and the rescue that follows it. Chinese readers call the episode 三打白骨精, “Three Strikes at the White Bone Demon.” In the novel, the third blow finishes the demon, and a different monster catches Tang Seng once Wukong has been sent away; this retelling keeps the White Bone Demon as the villain to the end.
It is one of the best-loved episodes in the novel, told again and again in Chinese opera, comic books, cartoons and on TV. Its lesson is easy to remember: a kind heart can be fooled by a friendly face, and a friend who tells you a hard truth deserves to be heard. When someone spots a clever fake, people still praise their 火眼金睛, the Monkey King's fiery golden eyes.
Did you know?
- People call a prize that everyone is scheming to get a bite of 唐僧肉, “Tang Seng's flesh,” after the demons who believe that eating the monk will let them live forever.
- In modern slang, 白骨精 is also a playful name for a high-flying office worker, usually a woman: read as 白领、骨干、精英, it means “white-collar, backbone, elite.”
- In the novel, the words found on the demon's bones give her name as 白骨夫人, “Lady White Bone,” but most people in China simply call her 白骨精.