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Cover of Journey to the West among Us: Zhang Yiwei's Close Reading
Journey to the West among Us: Zhang Yiwei's Close Reading
A world never seen before; at every step, a new flower
Ongoing · Updated every Wednesday
Buy for ¥168.00
Audio in Chinese
00. From Childhood into the World: The Ever-Present Culture of Journey to the West 01. Who Actually ‘Wrote’ Journey to the West? 02. From Xuanzang to Tripitaka, Monkey Pilgrim to Wukong: How Did the Story Reach Its Final Form? 03. Another ‘Story of the Stone’? | The Birth of Sun Wukong I 04. Why Is Sun Wukong a Monkey? | The Birth of Sun Wukong II 05. ‘Sun Wukong’: A Gift from Subhuti? | Receiving a Name and Instruction 06. How Did Wukong Become Socialized after Returning to Flower-Fruit Mountain? | Raiding the Dragon Palace and Underworld 07. From Stable Keeper to Great Sage Equal to Heaven: Wukong Starts Again | Entering Heaven 08. Was the Peach Garden a Heavenly Trap Designed for Wukong? | Havoc in Heaven I 09. How Did Erlang Defeat the Great Sage with an Empty Title? | Havoc in Heaven II 10. Did Wukong's ‘Childhood’ End with a Wager? | Escaping the Furnace, Imprisoned beneath the Mountain Cult Leader Liu Yang × Ma Boyong × Zhang Yiwei: Humanity Has Explored Less than Five Percent of Journey to the West 11. Why Did a Festival for the Dead Launch the Great Pilgrimage? | Ullambana and Guanyin's Commission 12. Is the Merciful Bodhisattva Also a ‘Troublemaker’? | Devotion to Guanyin 13. Does Tripitaka's Life Begin with a Revenge Story Full of Holes? | The River-Current Monk 14. A Dragon King, a Fortune-Teller, and the Dragon Slayer Who Dozed Off | Beheading the Jing River Dragon in a Dream 15. A Doomed Couple and an Unfinished Bond between Man and Ghost | Emperor Tang in the Underworld 16. Love or Pumpkins? Death and the Underworld in Journey to the West | Judge Cui and Liu Quan 17. Did the Pilgrimage Begin with a Ceremony Destined to Fail? | Water-and-Land Assembly 18. ‘Master, Why Only Now? I Will Escort You to the Western Heaven!’ | Their First Meeting Zhang Yiwei × Jin Wen × Yu Shi: How Do We Write ‘Love’ in an Age of Read but Unanswered Messages? 19. ‘Mind-Monkey’ and ‘Will-Horse’: Did Wukong Ever Intend to Kill Tripitaka? | The Headband and White Dragon Horse 20. I, the Black Bear Demon, Clock Out on Time! | The Lost Kasaya and the Night Fire 21. A Live-In Son-in-Law's Worries: Does Bajie Say the Pilgrimage Will Fail Only Because He Is Lazy? | Recruiting Bajie 22. The Heart Sutra Was Meant as Protection—Did It Traumatize Tripitaka? | The Yellow Wind Demon 23. The Peacemaker's Private Thoughts: Is Sandy Really Invisible within the Team? | Recruiting Sha Wujing 24. Why Does Bajie's ‘Useful Tool’ Role Make Him Fail the Divine Test? | The Four Sages Test Their Resolve Zhang Yiwei × Zhang Chun: What Relationships Do We Need as Intimacy Enters a New Normal? 25. Destroy the Ginseng-Fruit Tree! | An Old Friend of Golden Cicada 26. Important Things Are Said Three Times; Important Monsters Are Fought Three Times | The White Bone Demon 27. The Pilgrims Face Total Defeat—and the White Dragon Horse Speaks | The Kingdom of Baoxiang 28. What Filial Dilemma Faces Baihuaxiu, Who Wants to Be a ‘Full-Time Daughter’? | The Yellow-Robed Demon 29. How Did an Overconfident Wukong Let Silver Horn Break His Defenses? | The Great Sage beneath the Mountain 30. Sun Pilgrim! Pilgrim Sun! Pilgrim-Sun! | Stealing Treasures and Changing Names 31. Disciples, Are You Asleep? Get Up and Admire the Moon! | Baolin Monastery and a Ghostly Visitor 32. If This Is Not Favoritism, What Is? | Rescuing the King of Wuji 33. How Did a Three-Hundred-Year-Old Problem Child Gravely Wound Wukong? | Red Boy Zhang Yiwei × Su Min × Yin Lichuan: How Does the Resolve to Leave Grow—and Endure? 34. Why Do Monsters Never Manage to Eat Tripitaka? | Subduing Red Boy 35. Rain, Fertility, and Treasure: The Dragon Clans in Journey to the West | Black River Zhang Yiwei × dy: From Nobody's Mountain to Journey to the West—Choose Roast Chicken or the True Scriptures? 36. Statues Thrown into a Toilet and Holy Water That Smells of Urine | Contest at Cart-Slow Kingdom I 37. Is Fighting Just to Save Face Really Worth It? | Contest at Cart-Slow Kingdom II 38. Would the Great King of Inspiration Be Angry at Prepared Food as an Offering? | River of Heaven Zhang Yiwei × Zhang Chun: Come, Let Us Intervene in Other People's Karma 39. How Did an Unadorned Bodhisattva Resolve a Crisis Born of Haste? | Guanyin with the Fish Basket Journey to the West Mailbox | For Whom Is the Pilgrimage Told, and for Whom Does Bajie Cry? 40. Leaving a Small Circle Only to Fall into a Larger Trap | Single-Horned Rhinoceros King 41. Buddha: Lord Lao, Your Man Has Crossed Me! | The Gods Fail, and the Buddha Reveals the Source 42. ‘I'm a Man—How Can I Have a Baby?’ | Pregnancy from Drinking Water 43. Did Tripitaka Fall for the Queen? | Marriage in the Women's Kingdom 44. In a Relationship, Giving Up May Hurt More than Scolding | The Scorpion Demon and Wukong's Second Expulsion Zhang Yiwei: Eating Disorders and Feelings Too Difficult to Swallow | Featuring Yiheng Yishu Yiyun Li × Zhang Yiwei × Dalan: If Writing Is an Act of Revenge Sister Loves Reading: Zhang Yiwei's Novels of Manners and Today's Subtle, Complex Relationships 45. Is the Six-Eared Macaque Wukong's ‘Midlife Crisis’? | The True and False Monkey Kings 46. A Stolen Child Unavenged—How Could Borrowing the Fan Go Smoothly? | Borrowing the Plantain Fan I 47. Goodbye, ‘Lover’; Goodbye, ‘Friend’ | Borrowing the Plantain Fan II 48. Offend All Three Realms for a Fan, Lose Money and Life for a Man—is It Worth It? | Plantain Fan III 49. The Trial Where Everyone Is Distracted | Sweeping the Pagoda in Jisai Kingdom 50. What Has a Tree Spirit Who Loves Poetry and Romance Done Wrong? | Poetry at Wood-Immortal Hermitage Zhang Yiwei × Kim Hye-jin × Xiaoxia: Recognizing Human Circumstances in East Asian Faces 51. My Master Ignores My Advice—Nothing Would Be Lost If He Died! | Little Thunderclap Monastery 52. A Trial That Makes Bajie's Dream Come True | Cleansing Filth at Qijue Mountain Spring Festival Special | The Heavenly Dragon Horse 53. What Dispels Sorrow? Half a Cup of Horse Urine! | Doctoring in the Kingdom of Purpuria Luo Yijun × Zhang Yiwei: The World Changes, but ‘Useless Things’ Stay Forever New 54. Cup after Cup—I'm Not Drunk, Only Heartbroken | Subduing the Demon and Winning the Queen I 55. Indigestion Is Curable; Romantic Obsession Is Not | Winning the Queen II 56. A Demon's Life Is a Magnificent Robe Crawling with Lice | Winning the Queen III Zhang Yiwei × Duan Zhiqiang: Why Is Chinese Fiction Really a History of Fan Fiction? Zhang Yiwei × Echora: From Hair Loss to Anorexia, How Do We Tell Our Mind–Body Stories? 57. A Women's Football Team and a Romance Born of Voyeurism | Webbed-Hollow Cave I 58. A Life Dissolving in One Hot Bath after Another | Webbed-Hollow Cave II Zhang Yiwei: AI Cannot Read or Write Our Pain | World Book Day Special 59. If You Poison Tripitaka, Will Eating Him Still Grant Immortality? | Yellow Flower Temple I 60. Rumors of Discord among Bodhisattvas | Yellow Flower Temple II 61. Undercover in a Monster ‘Megacorporation’: What Did Wukong See? | Lion-Camel Ridge I 62. Human-Flesh Hotpot and Mixed-Monster Soup | Lion-Camel Ridge II 63. Is the Other Side of Jealousy Dependence? | Lion-Camel Ridge III 64. Too Much Hate to Leave, Too Much Love to Break Free: The Human Condition | Lion-Camel Ridge IV 65. Our King Ate Your Tripitaka Half-Raw Overnight! | Lion-Camel Ridge V Zhang Yiwei × Yu Shi: Turning Menstruation into Jokes Is Serious Business! Zhang Yiwei × Yu Shi: Without a Body, How Do We Prove We Are Alive? Journey to the West Mailbox | Feeling for Wukong Means Feeling for Your Working Self? Wu Cuncun × Zhang Yiwei × Gu Yue: Desires Hidden in Theaters and Novels Zhang Yiwei × Beyond the Swallow: Revisiting as Adults, We Learn Fairy Tales Really Do Lie 66. How Do Good Intentions Produce Bad Results? | Bhikshu Kingdom I 67. A Heart Rolling Everywhere and a Love across Species | Bhikshu Kingdom II 68. Master, You Frightened Me—How Could You Like This? | Bottomless Cave I 69. What Demon of Desire Nearly Made Tripitaka Abandon the Pilgrimage? | Bottomless Cave II Zhang Yiwei × Shao Dong: An Age That Makes Us Feel Abandoned Needs Literature Even More Zhang Yiwei: How Can Bodily Pain Be Given an Account? | Narrative Medicine Workshop Replay 70. Crimson and Purple Bloom Everywhere—Squeak, Squeak, Squeak | Bottomless Cave III 71. Live a Half-Finished Life, Enjoy a Half-Finished Marriage | Bottomless Cave IV 72. Can Denying Yourself Really Bring a Better Life? | Destroy-the-Dharma Kingdom 73. Why Are Longtime Colleagues More Likely to Become Enemies? | Hidden-Fog Mountain I