# Journey to the West
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/journey-to-the-west/616629
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [March 23, 2012, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/journey-to-the-west/616629 "2012-03-23T19:15:23Z")
**Posts on this page:** 5
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2012, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/journey-to-the-west/616629/1 "2012-03-23T19:15:23Z")
This is _the_ epic tale of eastern Asia, telling the story of a Chinese monk who travels to India to bring back Buddhist teachings. On the way he encounters all sorts of obstacles, usually magical in nature, but is brought through safely by his companions, notably the Monkey King, Sun Wukong.
I know the basics of the story, but haven’t read it. I have the Anthony Wu translation of volume one, but I’m finding it too scholarly to enjoy. Is there another translation that might be more fun?
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### Author:  [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2012, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/journey-to-the-west/616629/2 "2012-03-25T06:17:09Z")
> [@Greg\_Charles](#):
>
> This is _the_ epic tale of eastern Asia, telling the story of a Chinese monk who travels to India to bring back Buddhist teachings. On the way he encounters all sorts of obstacles, usually magical in nature, but is brought through safely by his companions, notably the Monkey King, Sun Wukong.
>
> I know the basics of the story, but haven’t read it. I have the Anthony Wu translation of volume one, but I’m finding it too scholarly to enjoy. Is there another translation that might be more fun?
Well, there’s the TV show, which was quite fun, but I’m not sure how closely it follows the original story…
https://www.youtube.com/embed/HkAUMsrBmNQ?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque
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### Author:  [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2012, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/journey-to-the-west/616629/3 "2012-03-25T07:00:36Z")
> [@Isamu](#):
>
> Well, there’s the TV show, which was quite fun, but I’m not sure how closely it follows the original story…
And there are several other TV shows based on _Journey to the West_, including [Dragon](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon_Ball) [Ball](http://www.animenewsnetwork.com.au/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=243), which I suspect is rather less true to the details of the original story.
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### Author:  [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2012, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/journey-to-the-west/616629/4 "2012-03-25T15:05:56Z")
While it’s a fun read, I’d avoid the translation by Toriyama. For starters, it’s [over 9000](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiMHTK15Pik) pages long!
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### Author:  [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2012, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/journey-to-the-west/616629/5 "2012-03-25T15:36:39Z")
Arthur Whaley’s [Monkey](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monkey:_A_Folk-Tale_of_China) is generally well-liked, though _heavily_ abridged.