Author(s)
I was always inspired by the Monkey King’s invincibility and determination to protect his master – Tripitaka – from harm. Moreover, I loved how the Monkey King transformed from such a rebellious figure to a humble, virtuous, and loyal disciple of Tripitaka. To me, the Monkey King is a very relatable and inspiring fictional character. Despite loving Journey to the West so much, I realized that I have never given much thought about the novel’s relation to the historical period it was written in. Moreover, I have always wondered why the novel has so many Buddhist references. Therefore, I saw this passion project as a very good opportunity for me to find out more about my favorite childhood story and what it tells me about Ming China.
Author’s Reflection
For this project assignment, I decided to explore the religious themes and historical background of my favorite childhood story – Journey to the West written by Wu Cheng ‘En. My interest in this Chinese novel was first sparked by my father who used to tell me bedtime stories about how the powerful Monkey King defeated his armies. I was always inspired by the Monkey King’s invincibility and determination to protect his master – Tripitaka – from harm. Moreover, I loved how the Monkey King transformed from such a rebellious figure to a humble, virtuous, and loyal disciple of Tripitaka. To me, the Monkey King is a very relatable and inspiring fictional character. Despite loving Journey to the West so much, I realized that I have never given much thought about the novel’s relation to the historical period it was written in. Moreover, I have always wondered why the novel has so many Buddhist references. Therefore, I saw this passion project as a very good opportunity for me to find out more about my favorite childhood story and what it tells me about Ming China.
I chose to present my analysis of Journey to the West through a video. In my video, I narrated stories from Journey to the West while using hand-drawn pictures as visual aid. Through those stories, I introduced facts about the religious and social aspects of Ming China. This method of presentation was inspired by my primary school English teacher. In primary school, I often struggled to keep up with the lesson pace. Noticing this, my English teacher used storybooks to teach my class English grammar and vocabulary. This effective method of teaching made my learning process much more enjoyable and productive. Therefore, I decided to adopt a similar approach to present my findings about Journey to the West. Through this approach, I hope that my audience will have fun while learning about imperial China. In my opinion, learning is most productive when the learning process is fun and enjoyable.
From my video, I hope to effectively convey four important learning points about Ming China. First, Canonization novels – like Journey to the West – often narrate the transformation of unruly protagonists into deified individuals. This popular Canonization plot was inspired by Daoist rituals of sublimation which involved transforming evil spirits into virtuous and respectable figures. Second, Buddhism was heavily suppressed by Zhu Yuanzhang and Jiajing in the early Ming dynasty, and was only revived again in the late-Ming dynasty. This revival of Buddhism was then reflected in many late-Ming novels like the Journey to the West. Third, the four main characters of the Journey to the West – Tripitaka, Sandy, Monkey King and Pigsy – were all embodiments of different types of people in the Ming dynasty. Finally, I contend that the Monkey King’s sheer determination to overcome his flaws and improve himself made him an inspirational and popular fictional character until today.
In conclusion, working on this project was a very nostalgic and enlightening experience for me.