The Journey Begins: A Story in Simplified Chinese and English, 600 Word Vocabulary Level

The young monk Xuanzang sets out on his westward journey. His journey is difficult and filled with dangers. He runs into trouble immediately when he is captured and nearly killed by the Monster King and his ogres. He escapes with the help of a mysterious old man, only to be attacked on the road later by tigers, snakes and more monsters. Eventually he meets the Monkey King, Sun Wukong. Together they face bandits and wild animals, and Sun Wukong must make a difficult decision. This is the 6th book in the best-selling The Journey to the West series of stories for students learning to read Chinese. It is based on the epic 16th century novel of the same name by Wu Chen'en. That novel was inspired by an actual journey by the Buddhist monk Xuanzang, who traveled from Chang'an westward to India in 629 A.D. and returned seventeen years later with priceless knowledge and spiritual texts. Over the course of the book Tangseng and his companions face the 81 tribulations that Tangseng had to endure to attain Buddhahood. The first six books in the Journey to the West series use a total of about 600 different Chinese words, but 678 are used in this book. All new words are defined on the page where they are first used. The book uses Simplified Chinese characters and includes pinyin, an English translation, and a full glossary. An audiobook is available on YouTube's Imagin8 Press channel and on the Imagin8 Press website.