# Waley, Hu Shih, and the English names of *Journey to the West*

Chinese series, installment: *Monkey*, London, 1942.

The anchor is the translated book as printed in the target language, as in the Euclid installment (*Jihe yuanben*, Beijing, 1607). *Monkey* is the source of the English names still in use: Waley's Monkey, Pigsy, Sandy and Tripitaka are also the names in Julia Lovell's *Monkey King* of 2021. Hu Shih is also part of the book's English history: Waley translated from a Shanghai text with Hu Shih's introduction, and Hu Shih wrote the introduction to the American edition of 1943. The 1942 book and its Duncan Grant title page and jacket are in copyright, so the film names it on a typographic card and shows only public-domain pages.

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## 1. Animation script (about 85 seconds)

| Time | Voiceover | Visual | Caption (on screen, not spoken) | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0:00–0:04 | (silent) | Globe, pin on London | 51.52° N, 0.13° W · London · 1942 | Make: own render |
| 0:04–0:12 | "In 1942 a London publisher issued a hundred-chapter Chinese novel under one English word, Monkey. Arthur Waley kept thirty of the chapters and left out most of the poems." | Typographic card in the film's own type: *Monkey* · translated by Arthur Waley · London: George Allen & Unwin · 1942. Under it, a strip of 100 cells, one per chapter; cells 1–15, 18–19, 22, 37–39, 44–49 and 98–100 fill on "thirty" | Arthur Waley, 1889–1966 · *Monkey*, George Allen & Unwin, London, 1942 · 30 of 100 chapters | Make: card and chapter strip. Chapter list from Hu Shih's introduction to the American edition (New York: John Day, 1943), checked in https://www.fadedpage.com/showbook.php?pid=20230303 |
| 0:12–0:20 | "The oldest surviving edition, printed in Nanjing and dated 1592 by most scholars, names no author. Its preface says nobody knows who made the book." | Shidetang chapter 1 opening: light 華陽洞天主人校, then 金陵世德堂梓行. Cut to the preface leaf and light 西遊一書不知其何人所為 | 新刻出像官板大字西遊記 · Shidetang 世德堂, Jinling (Nanjing) · preface dated 壬辰, read as 1592 · 西遊一書不知其何人所為 "no one knows who made this book" · National Central Library (Taiwan) scan | https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NCL-08616_01_新刻出像官板大字西遊記.pdf?page=12 · https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NCL-08616_01_新刻出像官板大字西遊記.pdf?page=2 |
| 0:20–0:30 | "Qing editions credited the Daoist Qiu Chuji. In 1923 Hu Shih argued for Wu Cheng'en of Huai'an, from a gazetteer entry Lu Xun had copied for him. The entry gives only a title." | 西遊證道書 preface: light 丘長春真君所纂《西遊記》. Cut to the 1626 Huai'an gazetteer: light 吳承恩, follow the small-type note down to 西遊記. Then, set as type, the 千頃堂書目 line 唐鶴徵南遊記三卷 · 吳承恩西遊記 · 沈明臣四明山遊籍一卷 under the heading 地理類 | Early Qing edition credits 丘處機 Qiu Chuji · 天啓淮安府志 卷十九, printed 1626 · 千頃堂書目 lists it under geography · attributed to Wu Cheng'en 吳承恩, c. 1500–c. 1582, dates uncertain | https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NLC892-411999026228-157419_鐫像古本西遊證道書_第1冊.pdf?page=3 · https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NLC892-0618-208676_天啓淮安府志_第7冊.pdf?page=4 · https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/千頃堂書目_(四庫全書本)/卷08 |
| 0:30–0:37 | "The English title pages followed: Richard in 1913 names Qiu Chuji, and Hayes in 1930 names Wu Cheng'en." | The two title pages side by side. Light "BY CH'IU CH'ANG CH'UN / A Taoist Gamaliel who became a Nestorian Prophet and Advisor to the Chinese Court" on the left, then "BY WU CH'ENG-EN" on the right | Timothy Richard 李提摩太, *A Mission to Heaven*, Shanghai, 1913 · Helen M. Hayes, *The Buddhist Pilgrim's Progress*, 1930 | https://archive.org/details/cu31924074502034/page/n4/mode/1up · https://archive.org/details/buddhistpiligrim0000haye/page/n6/mode/1up |
| 0:37–0:50 | "In chapter 1 a patriarch makes the monkey's surname from a character. He takes 猻, from the word for macaque, and removes the animal radical. What remains reads boy and infant, and becomes the surname Sun. His religious name, Wukong, means awakened to emptiness." | 猢猻 large on black. 犭 lifts off 猻 and leaves 孫; 孫 splits into 子 "boy" and 系 "infant". Then 悟空 with its gloss. Richard's plate 孫行者 / SUN THE MONKEY slides in under the type | 猻 − 犭 → 孫 → 子 + 系 · chapter 1: 「正合嬰兒之本論」 · 悟空 Wukong, "awakened to emptiness" · plate from *A Mission to Heaven*, 1913, after an unnamed Chinese illustrated edition | https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/西遊記/第001回 · https://archive.org/details/cu31924074502034/page/n58/mode/1up |
| 0:50–0:58 | "All three disciples' religious names share the character 悟. Richard's English keeps it as Seeker, and Jenner's as Awakened. Waley keeps it only for Monkey, then calls them Monkey, Pigsy and Sandy." | 悟空 · 悟能 · 悟淨 in a row with 悟 lit in each. Richard's plates 猪八戒 and 沙和尚 join 孫行者. The English names type over the Chinese, oldest first: Richard's three "Seeker" glosses keep 悟 lit, then Waley's three names leave it unlit | Richard 1913: "Seeker of Truth" · "Seeker after Strength" · "Seeker after Purity" · Jenner, from 1982: "Awakened to Emptiness" · "Power" · "Purity" · Waley 1942: Monkey · Pigsy · Sandy (kept by Lovell 2021) | https://archive.org/details/cu31924074502034/page/n234/mode/1up · https://archive.org/details/cu31924074502034/page/n250/mode/1up |
| 0:58–1:08 | "Heaven makes him 弼馬溫, an unranked post in the imperial stables. The title is usually heard as 避馬瘟, ward off horse plague, and Chinese stables did keep monkeys against disease. None of the English titles by Richard, Waley, Yu or Jenner keeps the pun." | Shidetang chapter 4 woodcut, the appointment scene at court. Then 弼馬溫 over 避馬瘟 with the shared reading bìmǎwēn between them. The renderings type on under it: Stud Master · Pi-ma-wên · pi-ma-wen · Protector of the Horses | Woodcut, chapter 4, Shidetang edition · 弼馬溫 / 避馬瘟 bìmǎwēn · 本草綱目: 「馬廄畜母猴，辟馬瘟疫」 | https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NCL-08616_01_新刻出像官板大字西遊記.pdf?page=51 · https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/本草綱目/獸之四 |
| 1:08–1:24 | "The 1592 chapter titles call him 心猿, the mind-monkey, and give Monkey and Pig alchemical names, 金公 and 木母, Metal Lord and Wood Mother. None of these appears in Waley, and Hu Shih told his American readers the book was humour and satire. Anthony Yu's complete translation, finished in 1983, renders them all, with all the poems." | Shidetang contents: light 心猿歸正 (ch. 14) and 意馬收韁 (ch. 15), then 木母助威征怪物　金公施法滅妖邪 (ch. 86). Hu Shih's 1939 photograph for two seconds. Then the chapter strip returns with three new rows: Yu, all 100 cells; Jenner, all 100; Lovell, the 49 source chapters she draws on | 心猿 xīnyuán · 金公 jīngōng = Monkey, from 張伯端《悟真篇》 · 木母 mùmǔ = Pig, the alchemists' mercury · Hu Shih 胡適, Washington, 1939 · Yu 余國藩, Chicago, 1977–83 · Jenner, Beijing, from 1982 · Lovell 藍詩玲, *Monkey King*, 2021 | https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NCL-08616_01_新刻出像官板大字西遊記.pdf?page=7 · https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NCL-08616_01_新刻出像官板大字西遊記.pdf?page=10 · https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chinese_Ambassador_to_U.S.,_Dr._Hu_Shih,_Sept._1939_LCCN2016876181.jpg · Make: strip |
| 1:24–1:28 | (silent) | Globe, pin on Xi'an. Series tag | 34.22° N, 108.96° E · Big Wild Goose Pagoda · Xi'an · begun under Xuanzang 玄奘, 652 | Make: own render |

### Coordinates for the globe build

- London, George Allen & Unwin, 40 Museum Street, WC1: 51.518° N, 0.125° W. The firm moved here from Rathbone Place in 1914 (National Archives catalogue entry for the University of Reading's Allen & Unwin series, https://beta.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/id/3b0bb7b9-ec7c-43a3-9d7d-83516ea39daf), and OpenStreetMap places 40–41 Museum Street at this point. Whether the 1942 imprint prints this address is not checked, so the caption says "London" only.
- Nanjing (Jinling), Sanshan Street 三山街, the old bookselling quarter: 32.025° N, 118.778° E (OpenStreetMap, the 三山街 stop on 升州路). The Shidetang was a Jinling house (its own colophon; Hsieh 2025). Its shop site is unknown, and the Sanshan Street association appears only in search summaries. Caption "Nanjing" with no street claim.
- Huai'an, Hexia, Wu Cheng'en Former Residence museum: 33.529° N, 119.134° E (OpenStreetMap museum point). The building's age is unverified and the author link is contested. Optional pin in the attribution beat; any caption carries "attributed".
- Taipei, National Palace Museum: 25.102° N, 121.549° E. Holds one of the four surviving 1592 copies (NPM exhibition page). Optional.
- Beijing, 24 Baiwanzhuang Street, China International Publishing Group (中国外文局), home of the Foreign Languages Press: 39.926° N, 116.332° E (OpenStreetMap). The Press's occupancy of this site in 1964–85 is unverified. Optional.
- Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1427 E 60th Street: 41.786° N, 87.590° W. The Press's address in 1977–83 is unverified. Alternative: Swift Hall, the Divinity School, where Yu taught, 41.789° N, 87.600° W; his office building is unverified.
- Xi'an, Big Wild Goose Pagoda, Da Ci'en Temple: 34.220° N, 108.959° E. Wikipedia and OpenStreetMap agree on the point. The site is confirmed; the standing building is a later rebuilding of the pagoda begun in 652.

### Image notes

- Waley's 1942 *Monkey* is in UK copyright to the end of 2036 (Waley died in 1966). Its title page and jacket were designed by Duncan Grant (Eton College Library record) and are also in copyright. Show no jacket, binding, page, colophon, publisher device or imitation of the jacket layout. Make the title card in the film's own type.
- Waley's preface (1942) and Hu Shih's introduction (first printed in the John Day edition, "Copyright © 1943 by John Day Company") are in copyright. Quote at most a short phrase, set as type and credited. The Faded Page transcription used to check wording is public domain in Canada only.
- The Shidetang pages come from the National Central Library (Taiwan) scan, call no. 08616. It is probably the National Palace Museum copy: the NCL record and the NPM accession (平圖020136–020155) both count 20 volumes, but no page states that they are the same copy, so caption the frames "National Central Library (Taiwan) scan". Every spread carries a large grey NCL seal and a red line of text, 臺灣國家圖書館 NATIONAL CENTRAL LIBRARY, TAIWAN, R.O.C., across its middle. Crop the frame or keep the marks; do not retouch them out. The library record credits the book to "(明)吳承恩撰". The 1592 print names no author, so do not copy the record's author line into a caption.
- The chapter 4 woodcut (PDF p. 51) shows a court audience: an enthroned figure under a canopy, attendants, a kneeling official holding a tablet, and guards. It has no horses. Its caption has an unprinted third character in this copy (官封□馬). Caption the frame "Woodcut, chapter 4" and do not quote the woodcut caption.
- In this copy the preface prints 以為猻，猻也 with the dog radical on both characters; modern transcriptions often print 以為孫，猻也. Put only 「以為心之神」 on screen.
- For a sharper woodcut with no watermark, the National Palace Museum's own photograph of the chapter 59 cut (Monkey and Princess Iron Fan) is on Commons (PD-Art-100).
- The Huai'an gazetteer is "printed 1626" by its own colophon (vol. 1, PDF p. 5). Hu Shih's 1942 introduction says 1625. Use 1626 in captions. The NLC watermark covers every page.
- The 西遊證道書 phrase 丘長春真君所纂《西遊記》 is on PDF p. 3. The preface that carries it is credited to Yu Ji 虞集 and dated 1329 (p. 7), and Lu Xun says the early Qing editor Wang Xiangxu 汪象旭 was the first to put it at the head of the novel. Caption it with the verb "credits", so that the caption reports the edition's claim about authorship.
- Richard's plates come, by his own statement, from "the 146 prepared for the Chinese edition of the book", which he does not name. Caption them "after an unnamed Chinese illustrated edition". The Internet Archive record for this scan gives the creator as Li Zhichang, which belongs to a different book; take nothing from the catalogue. His title page carries an owner's signature ("Chas. W. Wason") and a library stamp: crop them or keep them, and do not retouch them.
- Hayes 1930: the scan is the New York, E. P. Dutton first American edition ("Printed in Great Britain"), with a library call-number label at the top left of the title page. Published in 1930, so public domain in the US since 1 January 2026. Her death date is unknown, so the UK status is unresolved. Use the title page in a US release, and set it as type for any wider release until her dates are found.
- 本草綱目 caption: translate 母猴 as "macaque". Li Shizhen's own entry says 母猴 is a corruption of 沐猴 and 「非牝也」 (not a female), although the sentence after the quotation assumes a female.
- The Wikisource reading text of the novel includes chapter 9, which the 1592 edition lacks. Never caption a Wikisource screenshot as the 1592 text.
- No portrait of Wu Cheng'en exists. Do not use modern statues, the Huai'an museum figure, or `File:CN吳承恩.jpg` (a 2020 photograph of a living person with the same name).
- Optional cutaway for the close: "The Monk Xuanzang", hanging scroll, Japan, Kamakura period, 14th century, Tokyo National Museum A-10600 via ColBase (credit "Source: ColBase (https://colbase.nich.go.jp/)"; if cropped or recoloured, add "Created by editing information on ColBase (https://colbase.nich.go.jp/collection_items/tnm/A-10600)"), or the Metropolitan Museum's 14th-century portrait, 29.160.29 (CC0).
- Make: the globe (flat matte, one pin, monospace coordinates), the Waley, Yu, Jenner and Lovell edition cards, the 100-cell chapter strip, the radical animation, the 悟 row, and the 弼馬溫 / 避馬瘟 type.

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## 2. The post (single long-form post, no reply chain)

51.52° N, 0.13° W · London · 1942

In 1942 George Allen & Unwin in London published *Monkey*, Arthur Waley's translation of the Ming novel 西遊記 *Xiyou ji*, *Journey to the West*. The Chinese book has 100 chapters and, by David Lattimore's count, about 750 poems and verse passages. Waley kept 30 chapters. His preface describes the method: he left out whole episodes, translated the episodes he kept almost in full, and dropped most of the verse, "which go very badly into English." His names for the pilgrims, Monkey, Pigsy, Sandy and Tripitaka, are also the names in Julia Lovell's 藍詩玲 *Monkey King* (Penguin, 2021).

The oldest surviving edition names no author. The Shidetang 世德堂 of Nanjing printed it as 新刻出像官板大字西遊記 (newly cut, illustrated, official-format, large-character *Xiyou ji*), and four copies are known, three in Japan and one in the National Palace Museum in Taipei. Its first chapter credits a collator, 華陽洞天主人校 (corrected by the Master of the Huayang Grotto-Heaven), and the printer, 金陵世德堂梓行 (cut and issued by the Shidetang of Jinling). The preface by Chen Yuanzhi 陳元之 says 西遊一書不知其何人所為 (no one knows who made this book). It is dated 壬辰, a year of the sixty-year cycle. Most scholars read it as 1592; Huang Yongnian 黃永年 read it as 1532.

Qing editions credited the novel to the Daoist patriarch Qiu Chuji 丘處機 (1148–1227), whose disciple Li Zhichang 李志常 had written an account of Qiu's journey to Chinggis Khan under the same title. The attribution in use today began with Qing scholars from Huai'an, who connected the novel to an entry in the Huai'an prefectural gazetteer printed in 1626. In the 1920s Lu Xun 魯迅 copied the gazetteer material for Hu Shih 胡適, and Hu Shih's 〈西遊記考證〉 ("A textual study of *Xiyou ji*," 1923) and Lu Xun's 《中國小說史略》 (*A Brief History of Chinese Fiction*) made Wu Cheng'en 吳承恩 the standard author. The entry reads 吳承恩：《射陽集》四冊，□卷；《春秋列傳序》；《西遊記》 (Wu Cheng'en: *Sheyang ji*, four volumes, chapter count blank; a preface to the *Chunqiu liezhuan*; *Xiyou ji*). It gives a title and says nothing about a novel, and Huang Yuji's 黃虞稷 catalogue of Ming books, 《千頃堂書目》, lists 吳承恩《西遊記》 under geography, between two travel records. Zhang Peiheng 章培恒 made the systematic case against the attribution in 1983, Glen Dudbridge judged its grounds very weak, and the title page of Anthony C. Yu's 余國藩 complete translation carries no author's name.

The English versions before Waley record the change of author. Herbert Giles summarized the novel with extracts in *A History of Chinese Literature* (1901), where Monkey becomes "Master of the Horse to God." Timothy Richard 李提摩太 published *A Mission to Heaven* in Shanghai in 1913 and credited it to "Ch'iu Ch'ang Ch'un, A Taoist Gamaliel who became a Nestorian Prophet and Advisor to the Chinese Court." He translated chapters 1 to 7, chapter 11 on Hell, and chapters 98 to 100 nearly in full, outlined the rest, and read the book as Christian allegory, with the Jade Emperor 玉帝 as "God." Helen M. Hayes's *The Buddhist Pilgrim's Progress* (1930), a 105-page retelling that thanks Richard, puts "Wu Ch'eng-en" on its title page and cites Hu Shih.

Waley translated from a text "published by the Oriental Press, Shanghai, in 1921," with "a long and scholarly introduction" by Hu Shih; which edition that is has not been established. Hu Shih also introduced the American edition (New York: John Day, 1943), in a text signed 15 December 1942 that calls the authorship "authentically established." In 1923 he had written that 「《西遊記》被這三四百年來的無數道士和尚秀才弄壞了」 (*Journey to the West* has been ruined over these three or four hundred years by countless Daoists, monks and licentiates). The American introduction makes the same argument: "Freed from all kinds of allegorical interpretations," the book offers "good humor" and "good-natured satire." Waley's preface names "Wu Ch'êng-ên, of Huai-an" as the author, as Hu Shih did, but it reads the pilgrims as allegorical types: Tripitaka as "the ordinary man," Monkey as "the restless instability of genius," Pigsy as the physical appetites.

The monkey's surname is made from the parts of a Chinese character. In chapter 1 the Patriarch Subhūti 須菩提祖師 asks the stone monkey his 姓 (surname), and the monkey answers 「我無性」 (I have no temper), a pun on two words pronounced xìng. The Patriarch then derives a surname from 猢猻 (macaque). Without the animal radical, 猢 leaves 古月, "old" and "yin," which cannot give birth; 猻 leaves 子系, "boy" and "infant," 「正合嬰兒之本論」 (exactly the root doctrine of the Infant), so the surname is 孫. The religious name 悟空 Wukong, "awakened to emptiness," takes 悟 from a twelve-character lineage sequence. In chapter 8 Guanyin names the pig 豬悟能 and the river monster 沙悟淨, choosing their surnames by pointing at the body and at the sand (指身為姓, 指沙為姓).

Richard and Waley both explain the 姓/性 pun and drop the radical analysis, and they treat the shared 悟 differently. Richard keeps one English word across the three names: Wukong is "Seeker of Truth" (earlier "Searcher of Secrets"), Wuneng "Seeker after Strength" and Wujing "Seeker after Purity." W. J. F. Jenner, who translated the whole novel for the Foreign Languages Press in Beijing, does the same with "Awakened to Emptiness," "Awakened to Power" and "Awakened to Purity." Waley glosses only the first, as "Aware-of-Vacuity." His English names each cover more than one Chinese name: in his chapter 14 "Monkey" stands where Tripitaka gives the nickname 行者 (postulant), and "Pigsy" stands for 豬, 豬剛鬣 and 悟能. The monk's title 三藏 Sanzang, "three baskets," is the Chinese translation of the Sanskrit *tripiṭaka*, and Waley's "Tripitaka" turns it back into Sanskrit.

The office title in chapter 4 has the same problem with sound. The Jade Emperor makes Monkey 弼馬溫 in the Imperial Stables; Monkey learns that the post is 「未入流」 (outside the ranked grades) and leaves. The novel does not explain the title. It is usually read as a homophone of 避馬瘟 (ward off horse plague), and the practice behind that reading is recorded: the 《本草綱目》 (*Compendium of Materia Medica*) quotes a horse manual, 「馬廄畜母猴，辟馬瘟疫」 (keep a macaque in the stable to ward off horse plague). Richard's chapter heading has "Stud Master," Waley wrote "Pi-ma-wên," Yu "pi-ma-wen," and Jenner "Protector of the Horses." None of these carries the pun.

The allegory is printed in the oldest surviving edition. Chen Yuanzhi's preface reports an older preface that took the monkey 「以為心之神」 (as the spirit of the mind) and the horse as the galloping of the will. The 1592 chapter titles call Sun Wukong 心猿, the mind-monkey, and the dragon horse 意馬, the horse of the will. The chapter titles also use names from internal alchemy. 金公 (Metal Lord) for Monkey and 黃婆 (Yellow Dame) for Sha Wujing occur in Zhang Boduan's 張伯端 《悟真篇》 (*Awakening to Reality*), and 木母 (Wood Mother) for Pig is the alchemists' name for mercury. Chapter 86 is titled 「木母助威征怪物　金公施法滅妖邪」 (Wood Mother lends force to subdue the monster; Metal Lord uses his magic to destroy the demon). None of these terms appears in Waley's text.

The complete translations render that vocabulary. Jenner worked on his translation from the winter of 1964/65 until the Press stopped him in 1967, and again from 1978; his first two volumes came out in 1982 and 1984, and he finished over the next two summers. His version is uncut, sets the verse as blank verse, and has no footnotes. Yu published four volumes in Chicago between 1977 and 1983. Lattimore found his text substantially the 1592 edition with one added episode from a short version of the novel: Xuanzang's birth story, which Dudbridge traced to Zhu Dingchen's 朱鼎臣 short version and which entered the 100-chapter text as chapter 9 in a Kangxi-era edition. Yu's translation is complete, verse included, and renders the alchemical names consistently as "Metal Squire," "Wood Mother" and "Yellow Hag." Jenner's 金公 changes from chapter to chapter.

Lovell's version is closer to Waley's in scope. It works from the 1954 Chinese edition, draws on 49 of the 100 chapters for 36 chapters of its own, is about a quarter of the original's length, keeps Waley's names, and cuts or condenses most of the poems. Zhu Jiachun 朱嘉春 and Luo Xuanmin 罗选民 report that her translator's preface calls the puns hard to translate without notes and says that notes would weaken the humour, so she deleted them. In chapter 14 an old man calls Tripitaka a 唐人 (a man of Tang), and Monkey shouts that he is no 糖人 (sugar man) either. Waley kept the pun with a footnote, "Sugar in Chinese is *T'ang*," and Yu kept it with an endnote. Lovell translates 唐 as "Chinese" and drops the pun.

The Euclid installment of this series placed Ricci and Xu Guangqi between Xuanzang's rules for when to transliterate a Buddhist term and Yan Fu's three standards. Those books were translated into Chinese; this one went into English. Its pilgrim is Xuanzang 玄奘 himself, who by Lattimore's account brought back 657 texts and translated 75 of them with his helpers. The novel's last chapter takes the scriptures to the 雁塔寺 (Wild Goose Pagoda Temple) in Chang'an. In Xi'an the Big Wild Goose Pagoda was begun under Xuanzang in 652 to hold what he brought back from India; the standing building is a later rebuilding.

If you have worked with Republican-era editions of the novel: is the "Oriental Press, Shanghai, 1921" text that Waley names the Yadong Library 亞東圖書館 edition, and did his copy carry Hu Shih's 1923 essay or only the 1921 preface?

34.22° N, 108.96° E · Big Wild Goose Pagoda · Xi'an

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## 3. Vocabulary table

Translators: R Richard 1913 · H Hayes 1930 · W Waley 1942 (checked in the 1943 American text) · Y Yu 1977–83, with his 2006 abridgment where noted · J Jenner, Foreign Languages Press, from 1982 (later FLP printings checked) · L Lovell 2021 (via Zhu & Luo 2022 and Ping & Wang 2024; no copy seen). Status today: Settled (one English form since Waley), Split (several forms in print), Romanized (pinyin in the recent versions), Complete translations only (no form in Waley; Richard's chapter headings render some), Lost (no rendering checked carries the wordplay). Chinese text and chapter-title counts are from the Wikisource transcription, which names no base edition.

| Term (trad. / simp.) | Pinyin | Literal sense | English | Status today | Note and source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 西遊記 / 西游记 | Xīyóu jì | record of a journey to the west | R *A Mission to Heaven* · H *The Buddhist Pilgrim's Progress* · W *Monkey* · Y *The Journey to the West* · J *Journey to the West* · L *Monkey King: Journey to the West* | Split | Complete translations keep the literal title; the abridgements take their titles from the monkey. The same title belongs to Li Zhichang's record of Qiu Chuji's journey, the source of the Qiu attribution (Hu Shih, intro to W, 1943) |
| 吳承恩 / 吴承恩 | Wú Chéng'ēn | the author named on modern editions | R "Ch'iu Ch'ang Ch'un" (Qiu Chuji) · H "Wu Ch'eng-en" · W "Wu Ch'êng-ên, of Huai-an" · Y no author on the title page · J, L Wu Cheng'en | Contested | Rests on the bare title in the 1626 Huai'an gazetteer (NLC scan; Hu Shih 1923); 千頃堂書目 files it under geography (Wikisource; Liu 1995); Lattimore 1983 on Yu's title page. Write "attributed to" |
| 孫悟空 / 孙悟空 | Sūn Wùkōng | 孫: 猻 minus 犭, leaving 子 "boy" + 系 "infant"; 悟空 "awakened to emptiness" | R "Searcher of Secrets" (p. 15), "Seeker of Truth" (p. 161) · H "Sun, the Searcher of Secrets" (p. 29) · W "Aware-of-Vacuity" (ch. I), otherwise "Monkey" · Y "Wake-to-Vacuity" · J "Monkey Awakened to Emptiness" · L "Monkey", "Sun Wukong" | Split | Ch. 1, radical analysis and the twelve-character lineage 廣大智慧真如性海穎悟圓覺 (Wikisource). R and W drop the radical analysis. W omits the surname scene and glosses Sun once, in a footnote: "Monkey" (ch. VI, n. 6). Y via the 2006 abridgment; L via Ping & Wang 2024 |
| 姓 / 性 | xìng / xìng | surname / temper, nature | R kept in a parenthesis (p. 14) · W kept in a footnote (ch. I, n. 5) · H, Y, J, L not checked | Kept by note | Ch. 1: 「你姓甚麼？」 answered by 「我無性。」 (Wikisource) |
| 齊天大聖 / 齐天大圣 | Qítiān Dàshèng | great sage level with Heaven | R "The Great Holy One, the Equal of Heaven" (p. 55) · H same (p. 37) · W "Great Sage Equal to Heaven" · Y "Great Sage, Equal to Heaven" · J "Great Sage Equalling Heaven" · L "the Great Sage Equal to Heaven" (p. 125) | Settled on Waley's form; J differs | Ch. 4: a demon king proposes the title after Monkey leaves the stables (Wikisource). L via Zhu & Luo 2022, p. 116 |
| 弼馬溫 / 弼马温 | Bìmǎwēn | an invented office, roughly "assistant of horses"; heard as 避馬瘟 "ward off horse plague" | R "Master of the Horse" (p. 48), ch. IV title "Declines being a Stud Master" · H "Master of the Imperial Stables" (p. 36) · W "Pi-ma-wên" · Y "pi-ma-wen"; "Bimawen" in the 2006 abridgment · J "Protector of the Horses" · L not checked | Split; Lost | Ch. 4: unranked, 「未入流」 (Wikisource). 齊民要術 卷六 (「常繫獼猴於馬坊」) and 本草綱目 獸之四 (「養馬者廄中畜之，能辟馬病」) record monkeys kept in stables against disease (Wikisource). The earliest source for the homophone reading is unverified |
| 行者 / 孫行者 | xíngzhě | postulant, wandering ascetic | R "Sun, the Practical One" (p. 140) · H "Sun the Practical" (p. 65) · W "Monkey" · Y "Pilgrim", "Pilgrim Sun" · J "Brother Monkey", "Sun the Novice" · L not checked | Split | Ch. 14: a nickname, because he looks like a 小頭陀 (Wikisource). W puts "Monkey Aware-of-Vacuity" where Tripitaka gives this name in his ch. XIV, but calls him "Monkey" from ch. I on |
| 豬悟能 / 猪悟能 | Zhū Wùnéng | Pig, awakened to ability | R "Seeker after Strength" (p. 106) · W folded into "Pigsy" (ch. VIII) · Y "Chu Wu-neng"; 2006 "Zhu Wuneng" · J "Zhu Wuneng", glossed "Awakened to Power" · H, L not checked | Romanized | Ch. 8: 指身為姓 (Wikisource). Ch. 19: Tripitaka notes that 悟能 and 悟空 belong to one lineage; R translates the remark ("It fits well with the name of your fellow disciple", p. 161) |
| 豬八戒 / 猪八戒 | Zhū Bājiè | Pig of the eight prohibitions | R "Pa Kiei (eight commandments)" (p. 161) · H "Pa Kiei, Eight Commandments" (p. 65) · W "Pigsy" · Y "Chu Pa-chieh"; 2006 "Bajie" · J "Eight Prohibitions Pig", usually "Pig" · L "Pigsy" | Split | Ch. 19: given because he keeps from the 五葷三厭 (Wikisource). W omits the naming scene. J regretted not using "Pigsy" (Jenner 2016). L via Ping & Wang 2024 |
| 沙悟淨 / 沙悟净; 沙和尚 | Shā Wùjìng; Shā héshang | Sand, awakened to purity; Sand Monk | R "Seeker after Purity" (intro p. xxxvii; p. 162); plate caption "Sa Ho Shang the Dandy Dolphin" · H "the Monk Sand" · W "Sandy Priest", "Sandy" · Y "Sha Wu-ching", "Sha Monk" · J "Friar Sand", glossed "Awakened to Purity" · L "Sandy" | Split | Ch. 8: 指沙為姓; ch. 22: 沙和尚 (Wikisource). J preferred "Friar Sand" to "Sandy" (Jenner 2016) |
| 唐三藏 | Táng Sānzàng | the Tang monk of the three baskets (Skt. *tripiṭaka*) | R "Huen Chwang", "the Master" · H "Hiuen Tsiang the Master" (p. 18) · W "Tripitaka" · Y "Tripitaka" · J "Sanzang" · L "Tripitaka" | Split | Ch. 12: 指經取號，號作三藏 (Wikisource). "Tripitaka" returns the Chinese title to the Sanskrit it translates; Lattimore 1983 glosses "the three baskets" |
| 須菩提祖師 / 须菩提祖师 | Xūpútí zǔshī | Patriarch Subhūti | R "an Immortal called the Fountain of Wisdom" (p. 11) · H identified with Laozi (p. 29) · W "Patriarch Subodhi" · Y "Patriarch Subodhi" (2006) · J "Patriarch Subhuti" · L not checked | Split | R reads 菩提 *bodhi* as "wisdom". H's identification with Laozi appears in no other version checked |
| 靈臺方寸山，斜月三星洞 | Língtái fāngcùn shān, Xiéyuè sānxīng dòng | Spirit-Terrace Square-Inch Mountain; Slanting-Moon Three-Star Cave | R "the Heart of the Living Mountain… the Slanting Moon and Three Star cave" (p. 11) · H same (p. 28) · W "Holy Terrace Mountain… Cave of the Slanting Moon and Three Stars" · Y 2006 "The Mountain of Mind and Heart; The Cave of Slanting Moon and Three Stars" · J, L not checked | Lost | 斜月 is the hook stroke of 心 and 三星 its three dots; 靈臺 and 方寸 both name the heart-mind (鮑安順 2025). Y via Open Library search-inside of the 2006 abridgment |
| 玉帝; 玉皇大帝 | Yùdì; Yùhuáng dàdì | the Jade Emperor | R "God" (p. 48) · W, Y, J "Jade Emperor" · H, L not checked | Settled after Richard | Giles had already written "Master of the Horse to God" (1901, p. 282). R keeps the Christian reading through his chs. I–VII |
| 觀音 / 观音; 觀世音 | Guānyīn; Guānshìyīn | the bodhisattva who perceives the world's sounds | R "Kwanyin… the Buddhist equivalent to the Holy Spirit" (intro) · H "Kwanyin, the Incarnation of Mercy" (p. 42) · W "Kuan-yin" · Y "Kuan-yin" (1978), "Guanshiyin" (2006) · J "Guanyin" · L "Guanyin" | Romanized | Wade-Giles to pinyin. L via the *Asian Review of Books* review (Van Fleet 2021) |
| 如來 / 如来 | Rúlái | Tathāgata, "thus-come" | R "Julai (The Model Come). The Buddha (God) Incarnate" (intro) · W "Buddha", "the Tathāgata" · Y "Tathagata" · J "Tathagata Buddha" · H, L not checked | Split | R also writes that 佛 should often be translated "God" (intro, p. xxxv). W uses "Buddha Tathāgata" and "the Tathāgata" (chs. VII, XXX) |
| 如意金箍棒 | rúyì jīngū bàng | as-you-wish rod with golden hoops | R "AS YOU LIKE IT" (p. 32) · H "As You Choose It" (p. 34) · W "Golden Clasped Wishing Staff" · Y "compliant golden-hooped rod" · J "As-You-Will Gold-Banded Cudgel" · L "golden-hooped staff" (p. 204) | Split | Ch. 3: 重一萬三千五百斤; W and J turn 斤 into pounds, R keeps catties (Wikisource). L via Zhu & Luo 2022, p. 115 |
| 緊箍兒咒; 定心真言 | jǐngū'er zhòu; dìngxīn zhēnyán | tight-hoop spell; true words to settle the mind | R "magic cap of spikes" (p. 235) · H "a spiked cap" (p. 66) · W "the Scripture of the Tight Fillet" (ch. XIV) · Y "Tight-Fillet Spell"; "True Words for Controlling the Mind" (2006) · J "Band-tightening Spell"; "True Words to Fix the Mind" and "True Words to Calm the Mind" both in ch. 14 of the FLP 1990 printing, "Calm" in both places in 1993 · L "headache sutra" (p. 167), for 那話兒咒語 in ch. 27 | Split | Ch. 8 names the hoop (「此寶喚做緊箍兒」); ch. 14 names the spell 緊箍兒咒 and gives 定心真言 as its other name (Wikisource). R and H merge the band and the cap. L via Zhu & Luo 2022, p. 117 |
| 觔斗雲 / 筋斗云 | jīndǒu yún | somersault cloud | R taught "how to do it by somersaults" (p. 20) · W "Cloud Trapeze" (ch. II) · Y "cloud-somersault" · J "somersault cloud" · H, L not checked | Split | Ch. 2: 一觔斗就有十萬八千里路 (Wikisource) |
| 心猿 | xīnyuán | mind-monkey | R Monkey "personates the irrepressible human mind" (intro, p. xxxvi); ch. XIV heading "The wild beast Nature is changed" for 心猿歸正 · H "the Mind of Man" (p. 36) · W none · Y "Mind Monkey", "Monkey of the Mind" · J "Mind-Ape" · L not checked | Complete translations only | In 17 of the 100 chapter titles (Wikisource count) and in the 1592 contents (ch. 7 定心猿, ch. 14 心猿歸正; NCL scan pp. 6–7). Older image: 「以難化之人心如猨猴」 (CBETA T475, 553a12). 1592 preface: 「以為心之神」 |
| 意馬 / 意马 | yìmǎ | horse of the will: the White Dragon Horse | R ch. 15 title "A Dragon becomes a Horse" · H "the faithful heart" (p. 19) · W none (his episode heading reads "The Dragon Horse") · Y "Horse of the Will" · J "Thought-horse" · L not checked | Complete translations only | Ch. 15 title 鷹愁澗意馬收韁 (1592 contents, NCL scan p. 7). 1592 preface: 以為意之馳. Guo 1997 |
| 金公 | jīngōng | Metal Lord; 鈆 (a form of 鉛 "lead") split into 金 and 公; Sun Wukong | Y "Metal Squire" · J "Father of Metal", "Lord of Metal", "the metal lord" · R ch. LXXXVI heading puts "The Master" where the original has 金公 · H, W none · L not checked | Complete translations only; Y consistent, J varies | 《悟真篇》 七言絕句 24 and 25 (Wikisource). Li Daochun: 金邊著公字，鉛也 (via Guo 1997). Ch. 86 title (1592 contents, NCL scan p. 10). Y points to his introduction, vol. 1, pp. 50–51 (not read) |
| 木母 | mùmǔ | Wood Mother, standing for mercury; Zhu Bajie | Y "Wood Mother" · J "Mother of Wood" · R ch. LXXXVI heading puts "Pa Kiei" where the original has 木母; ch. XXXVIII heading "When metal and wood are tested" for 金木 · H, W none · L not checked | Complete translations only | Chapter titles 32, 40, 41, 76, 85, 86 (Wikisource); 1592 contents chs. 76, 85, 86 (NCL scan p. 10). Guo 1997: 「木母」、「木龍」指汞. Not in the Wikisource 《悟真篇》 |
| 黃婆 / 黄婆 | huángpó | Yellow Dame, the go-between who joins yin and yang; Sha Wujing | Y "Yellow Hag" · J "Yellow-Wife" · R, H, W none · L not checked | Complete translations only | Ch. 53 title 黃婆運水解邪胎: Sha draws the water (Wikisource). 《悟真篇》 七言絕句 19 and 26. Pregadio, *Golden Elixir* dictionary |
| 刀圭 / 刀歸 | dāoguī | alchemist's measuring spatula (Sha Wujing); variant "knife returns" | Y "Spatula" · J "Return with a Knife" · R, H, W, L not checked | Split by textual variant | Ch. 40 title 猿馬刀圭木母空; Wikisource records both readings without naming editions. Which edition each translator followed is unverified |
| 唐人 / 糖人 | Tángrén / tángrén | man of Tang / man made of sugar | W "man of T'ang" / "sugar-man", footnote "Sugar in Chinese is *T'ang*" (ch. XIV, n. 7) · Y "Tang man" / "sugar man", with an endnote · L pun dropped, 唐 as "Chinese" (p. 125) · R, H, J not checked | Kept by note in W and Y; lost in L | Ch. 14 (Wikisource). Lovell on deleting puns (p. xxxvii). Y and L via Zhu & Luo 2022, p. 116 |
| 有詩為證 / 有诗为证 | yǒu shī wéi zhèng | "there is a poem as proof", the storyteller's cue for inset verse | Y "There is a testimonial poem" (1978 and 2006); also "We have a poem as testimony" (2006) · J "There is a poem to prove it" · W most verse omitted (preface) · L much verse cut or condensed · R, H not checked | Complete translations only | Opens inset verse 57 times in 39 chapters (Wikisource count). About 750 poems in all (Lattimore 1983). L: Chen 2021; Zhu & Luo 2022, pp. 114–16 |
| 鬥戰勝佛 / 斗战胜佛 | Dòuzhàn shèngfó | Buddha victorious in combat, Monkey's final rank | R "the Buddha Victorious in War" (p. 359) · H same (p. 103) · W "the Buddha Victorious in Strife" (ch. XXX) · Y "Buddha Victorious in Strife" · J "Victorious Fighting Buddha" · L not checked | Split | Ch. 100 (Wikisource). With 齊天大聖, it gives Monkey's first and last titles: the rebel title of chapter 4 and the Buddha rank of chapter 100 |

---

## 4. Sources

**Primary texts**
- *Xiyou ji*, Shidetang edition, 新刻出像官板大字西遊記, Jinling (Nanjing), preface dated 壬辰 (1592): National Central Library (Taiwan) scan, call no. 08616, vol. 1: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NCL-08616_01_新刻出像官板大字西遊記.pdf (pp. 1–2, 6 preface; 6–7, 10 contents; 12 chapter 1; 51 chapter 4 woodcut). NPM photograph of the chapter 59 woodcut: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Journey_to_the_West,_Shidetang_Hall_of_Jinling_in_1592.jpg. Surviving copies: NPM exhibition page, https://theme.npm.edu.tw/exh108/Animal/en/page-4.html (the server's certificate chain is incomplete; browsers load it)
- Reading text of the novel: Chinese Wikisource 西遊記, https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/西遊記 (chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 9, 12, 14, 19, 22, 40, 53, 86, 100; base edition not named; includes chapter 9 with the note 清康熙年間汪象旭、黃周星加入). OCR of the Shidetang text: https://ctext.org/wiki.pl?if=en&res=340509
- 鐫像古本西遊證道書, early Qing printing, National Library of China: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NLC892-411999026228-157419_鐫像古本西遊證道書_第1冊.pdf (pp. 2–3 preface, 7 date line)
- 天啓淮安府志, printed 1626, National Library of China: vol. 7, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NLC892-0618-208676_天啓淮安府志_第7冊.pdf (p. 4); vol. 1, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NLC892-0618-208530_天啓淮安府志_第1冊.pdf (p. 5 colophon)
- 黃虞稷《千頃堂書目》 卷八 地理類 (Siku Quanshu text): https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/千頃堂書目_(四庫全書本)/卷08
- 胡適〈西遊記考證〉, 《讀書雜誌》 6 (4 February 1923), in the revised text for the second printing: https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/西遊記考證
- 魯迅《中國小說史略》 第十七篇, with editorial notes: https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/中國小說史略/第十七篇
- 《齊民要術》 卷第六: https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/齊民要術/卷第六 · 李時珍《本草綱目》 獸之四: https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/本草綱目/獸之四
- 張伯端《悟真篇》 (from the 正統道藏): https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/悟真篇
- 《維摩詰所說經》, T14, no. 475, juan 3, 553a12, CBETA: reader https://cbetaonline.dila.edu.tw/zh/T14n0475_p0553a12 ; text check https://cbdata.dila.edu.tw/stable/search/kwic?q=心如猨猴&work=T0475&juan=3
- Giles, Herbert A. *A History of Chinese Literature.* 1901, pp. 281–287. London: William Heinemann, https://archive.org/details/b24853690 ; New York: D. Appleton, https://archive.org/details/historychinesel00gile (1927 Appleton reprint: https://archive.org/details/historyofchinese00gileiala)
- Richard, Timothy, trans. *A Mission to Heaven: A Great Chinese Epic and Allegory.* Shanghai: Christian Literature Society's Depot, 1913. Cornell copy: https://archive.org/details/cu31924074502034 (title page n4; method pp. xv–xvi; plates n58, n234, n250)
- Hayes, Helen M. *The Buddhist Pilgrim's Progress, from the Shi Yeu Ki.* Wisdom of the East. New York: E. P. Dutton, 1930 (first American edition, printed in Great Britain). Claremont copy: https://archive.org/details/buddhistpiligrim0000haye (title page n6; pp. 15–18)
- Waley, Arthur, trans. *Monkey.* London: George Allen & Unwin, 1942. Eton College Library record: https://catalogue.etoncollege.com/B16792 ; lending scan https://archive.org/details/bwb_KU-995-218. American edition with Hu Shih's introduction, New York: John Day, 1943: https://archive.org/details/monkey00walerich ; text checked in Faded Page eBook #20230303, https://www.fadedpage.com/showbook.php?pid=20230303 (full text https://www.fadedpage.com/books/20230303/20230303.txt; Grove Weidenfeld reprint, ISBN 0-8021-3086-0)
- Jenner, W. J. F., trans. *Journey to the West.* Beijing: Foreign Languages Press; later printings checked: https://archive.org/details/journeytowestcla0001na (1990), https://archive.org/details/journeytowest0001wuch_k5u2 (1993)
- Yu, Anthony C., trans. *The Journey to the West.* Chicago: University of Chicago Press: https://archive.org/details/journeytowest02wuch (vol. 2, 1978, ISBN 0-226-97146-5); https://archive.org/details/monkeymonkrevise0000wuch (*The Monkey and the Monk*, 2006); revised edition, vol. 1: https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/J/bo12079590.html
- Lovell, Julia, trans. *Monkey King: Journey to the West.* Penguin Classics, 2021: https://www.penguin.com.au/books/monkey-king-9780141393445 ; https://www.publishersweekly.com/9780143107187
- Photographs and paintings: Hu Shih, Harris & Ewing, 1939, Library of Congress LCCN 2016876181, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chinese_Ambassador_to_U.S.,_Dr._Hu_Shih,_Sept._1939_LCCN2016876181.jpg ; Timothy Richard, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Timothy-Richard-at-34.jpg ; Xuanzang, Tokyo National Museum A-10600, https://colbase.nich.go.jp/collection_items/tnm/A-10600?locale=en ; Xuanzang, Metropolitan Museum 29.160.29, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:玄奘三蔵像-Portrait_of_Xuanzang_(Genjō)_with_Attendant_MET_29_160_29_d1_sf.jpg (museum page https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/45372)
- Places: Allen & Unwin's move to 40 Museum Street, National Archives catalogue, https://beta.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/id/3b0bb7b9-ec7c-43a3-9d7d-83516ea39daf ; Big Wild Goose Pagoda: "Giant Wild Goose Pagoda, Xi'an, Shaanxi Province," China Daily, government edition, 13 April 2022, https://govt.chinadaily.com.cn/s/202204/13/WS6256966c498e6a12c1229e2d/giant-wild-goose-pagoda-xian-shaanxi-province.html (text only; the photo is agency copyright)

**Scholarship**
- Yu, Anthony C., trans. and ed. *The Journey to the West.* 4 vols. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1977, 1978, 1980, 1983. Revised edition, 4 vols., 2012; vol. 1, 576 pp., cloth ISBN 978-0-226-97131-5, paper ISBN 978-0-226-97132-2. Abridgment: *The Monkey and the Monk.* Chicago, 2006
- Jenner, W. J. F., trans. *Journey to the West.* 3 vols. Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, 1982, 1984, and a third volume (ISBN 0-8351-1364-7; Open Library holds records dated both 1982 and 1986 for it; check). 1993 four-volume printing, ISBN 7-119-01663-6
- Jenner, W. J. F. "Journeys to the East, 'Journey to the West'." *Los Angeles Review of Books*, 3 February 2016. https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/journeys-to-the-east-journey-to-the-west/
- Lovell, Julia, trans. *Monkey King: Journey to the West.* London: Penguin Classics, 2021, ISBN 978-0-14-139344-5; New York: Penguin Classics, 2021, ISBN 978-0-14-310718-7
- Lattimore, David. "The Complete 'Monkey'." *New York Times Book Review*, 6 March 1983. https://www.nytimes.com/1983/03/06/books/the-complete-monkey.html (blocks scripted access; archived copy https://web.archive.org/web/20250211092909/https://www.nytimes.com/1983/03/06/books/the-complete-monkey.html)
- Chen, Minjie. "A Chinese Classic Journeys to the West: Julia Lovell's Translation of 'Monkey King'." *Los Angeles Review of Books*, 5 October 2021. https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/a-chinese-classic-journeys-to-the-west-julia-lovells-translation-of-monkey-king
- Ping, Yuan, and Binhua Wang. "Retranslated Chinese classical canon *Journey to the West*: a stylometric comparison between Julia Lovell's retranslation and Arthur Waley's translation." *Digital Scholarship in the Humanities* 39, no. 1 (2024): 308–320. doi:10.1093/llc/fqad085. Published version, CC BY 4.0: https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/id/eprint/205719/
- 朱嘉春, 罗选民. 〈《西游记》蓝诗玲英译本中译述策略的运用：兼论译述对典籍外译的意义〉. 《外国语》 45, no. 3 (2022): 111–120. http://jfl.shisu.edu.cn/cn/article/pdf/preview/639.pdf
- Ji, Hao. "A Comparative Study of Two Major English Translations of *The Journey to the West*: *Monkey* and *The Monkey and the Monk*." *Journal of Chinese Humanities* 2, no. 1 (2016): 77–97. doi:10.1163/23521341-12340027
- Tao, Yuan, and Chonglong Gu. "The Re-narrated Chinese Myth: Comparison of Three Abridgments of *Journey to the West* on Paratextual Analysis." *Translation Horizons* 10 (2020): 26–41. https://research.polyu.edu.hk/en/publications/the-re-narrated-chinese-myth-comparison-of-three-abridgments-of-j/ (record only; not read)
- Idema, Wilt L. "Glen Dudbridge, 2 July 1938–5 February 2017." *Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the British Academy* XVII (2018): 1–18. https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/documents/993/Memoirs_17-01-Dudbridge.pdf
- Dudbridge, Glen. "The Hundred-Chapter *Hsi-yu chi* and Its Early Versions." *Asia Major*, n.s., 14, no. 2: 141–191 (1969 per Idema 2018; the IHP record dates the issue 1968; not read). Record: https://www1.ihp.sinica.edu.tw/en/Publications/AsiaMajor/834/Article/316
- Dudbridge, Glen. *The Hsi-yu chi: A Study of Antecedents to the Sixteenth-Century Chinese Novel.* Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1970 (not read; see C. T. Hsia's review, *Journal of Asian Studies* 30, no. 4 (1971): 887–888, doi:10.2307/2053010)
- 劉振農. 〈「八公之徒」斯人考：《西遊記》成書過程新探之三〉. 《中國人民警官大學學報（哲社版）》 1995, no. 2. https://www.aisixiang.com/data/96988.html (summarizes Zhang Peiheng 1983 and argues for Wu's authorship)
- 章培恒. 〈百回本《西遊記》是否吳承恩所作〉. 《社會科學戰線》 1983, no. 4 (seen as cited by Liu 1995; pages not confirmed)
- 謝明勳. 〈文學想像與歷史真實：《西遊記》的異想世界〉. 《東華漢學》 42 (December 2025): 143–178. https://chinese.ndhu.edu.tw/var/file/56/1056/img/2548/768436376.pdf
- 竺洪波. 〈清涼：《西游記》的心學境界〉. 《文學報》, reprinted 中國作家網, 14 April 2023. https://www.chinawriter.com.cn/n1/2023/0414/c442005-32664134.html
- 郭明志. 〈刀圭與《西遊記》人物的別名代稱〉. 《求是學刊》 1997, no. 2. https://www.aisixiang.com/data/97413.html
- Pregadio, Fabrizio. "Huangpo 黃婆." *Golden Elixir* Neidan dictionary. https://goldenelixir.com/terms/huangpo.html
- 鮑安順. 〈說說四大名著裡的謎語〉. 《北京青年報》, 12 February 2025, via 中國作家網. https://www.chinawriter.com.cn/n1/2025/0212/c442005-40416910.html
- Bates, E. S. Review of *Monkey*, trans. Waley. *Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society* 75, no. 1–2 (1943): 126–127. doi:10.1017/S0035869X00098270 (existence confirmed; not read)
- Ch'en, Shou-yi. Review of *Monkey*, trans. Waley (John Day, 1943). *Far Eastern Quarterly* 4, no. 3 (1945): 288–. doi:10.2307/2049525 (end page unconfirmed; not read)
- Wasserstrom, Jeffrey. "Julia Lovell on the Monkey King's Travels Across Borders: A Conversation." *LARB Blog*, 10 December 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20201210182901/https://blog.lareviewofbooks.org/interviews/julia-lovell-monkey-kings-travels-across-borders-conversation/
- Van Fleet, John Darwin. Review of *Monkey King*, trans. Lovell. *Asian Review of Books*, 31 January 2021. https://asianreviewofbooks.com/monkey-king-journey-to-the-west-by-wu-chengen-translated-by-julia-lovell/

**Rights**
- Shidetang 1592, NCL scan: Commons `{{PD-scan|PD-old}}` ("a mere mechanical scan or photocopy of a public domain original"); NCL seal and red text line on every spread; leave them unretouched. NPM woodcut photograph: Commons `{{PD-Art|PD-old-100}}`. The NPM website footer ("All Rights Reserved") applies to the website only.
- National Library of China scans (西遊證道書, 天啓淮安府志): Commons `{{PD-old-100-expired}}` and `{{PD-scan}}`, with the notice "This image contains digital watermarking or credits in the image itself"; a large NLC watermark covers every page.
- Richard 1913: the Cornell notice leaf reads "There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text." Richard died in 1919. The plates reproduce Chinese woodcuts. Giles 1901: Smithsonian copy "Public domain"; 1927 reprint `NOT_IN_COPYRIGHT` in its Internet Archive metadata; the Wellcome London copy carries a boilerplate "possible copyright" statement although Giles died in 1935. Giles is a text source and is not shown.
- Hayes 1930: the Internet Archive page states no rights. Public domain in the US since 1 January 2026; UK status unresolved until her death date is found.
- Waley, *Monkey*, 1942, and the John Day edition of 1943 with Hu Shih's introduction: in copyright (UK term to the end of 2036; the John Day printing carries "Copyright © 1943 by John Day Company"; confirm the US term before any US use beyond short quotation). The Duncan Grant title page and jacket are in copyright. The Faded Page text is public domain in Canada only. Make a typographic card; quote briefly as type.
- Jenner (Foreign Languages Press), Yu (University of Chicago Press) and Lovell (Penguin): in copyright, including covers, pages and author photographs. Jenner writes that the Press agreed the translation copyright is his (LARB 2016). Make name and edition cards.
- Hu Shih, Harris & Ewing, 1939: Library of Congress "No known restrictions on publication" (`{{PD-Harris-Ewing}}`). Timothy Richard at 34: `{{PD-US}}`.
- Xuanzang, Tokyo National Museum A-10600: ColBase terms permit commercial use with the credit "Source: ColBase (https://colbase.nich.go.jp/)", plus an editing statement if the image is cropped or processed. Metropolitan Museum 29.160.29: public domain, CC0.
- Chinese texts quoted (the novel, the 1592 preface, Hu Shih 1923, Lu Xun, 齊民要術, 本草綱目, 悟真篇, 維摩詰經) are public domain. ctext asks for a link to the page when quoting.
- No portrait of Wu Cheng'en exists. Modern statues and museum photographs are recent works, often CC BY-SA, and a face would undercut the hedge on authorship; use none.

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## 5. Fact-check list

**Verified against a primary or scholarly source**
1. Waley, *Monkey*: London, George Allen & Unwin, 1942, 303 pp., title page and jacket designed by Duncan Grant (Eton College Library record B16792).
2. Waley kept 30 chapters (1–15, 18–19, 22, 37–39, 44–49, 98–100), translated the kept episodes almost in full, omitted most verse, and used a text "published by the Oriental Press, Shanghai, in 1921" with Hu Shih's introduction (Waley's preface and Hu Shih's American introduction, Faded Page transcription of the Grove Weidenfeld reprint; the chapter list agrees with Ping & Wang 2024).
3. Hu Shih's American introduction is signed 15 December 1942 and first printed in 1943 (John Day). It calls the authorship "authentically established", dates the gazetteer to 1625, and calls the book, "Freed from all kinds of allegorical interpretations", one of "good humor… good-natured satire". Waley's own preface reads the pilgrims allegorically (same text). Hu Shih's 1923 verdict on the commentators, his "滑稽小說" phrase, and his note dated 十二，二，四 on the 1921 preface and the second printing (Wikisource 西遊記考證).
4. The 1592 Shidetang edition names no author. Chapter 1 credits 華陽洞天主人校 and 金陵世德堂梓行; Chen Yuanzhi's preface says 西遊一書不知其何人所為 and reports the older reading of the monkey as 「以為心之神」 (NCL scan, vol. 1, pp. 1, 2, 6, 12; Hsieh 2025). Four copies survive, three in Japan and one in the National Palace Museum (NPM exhibition page).
5. The Huai'an gazetteer entry (juan 19, 淮賢文目) lists a title only and was printed in 1626 by its colophon (NLC scans, vol. 7 p. 4, vol. 1 p. 5; Hu Shih 1923). Lu Xun copied the material for Hu Shih (Hu Shih 1923, crediting 周豫才). 千頃堂書目 juan 8 lists 吳承恩西遊記 under 地理類 (Wikisource Siku text). Zhang Peiheng 1983 made the case against the attribution (Liu 1995). Dudbridge judged the ascription "based on the flimsiest of grounds" (Idema 2018, p. 3). Lattimore 1983 notes that "a bibliography of the time" lists it as a work of geography and that Yu's title page names no author.
6. Qing editions credited Qiu Chuji: the 西遊證道書 prints 丘長春真君所纂《西遊記》 (p. 3) in a preface credited to Yu Ji and dated 1329 (p. 7), and Lu Xun names Wang Xiangxu's 證道書 as the first edition to place it at the head. Qian Daxin and Ji Yun had already dated the novel to the Ming; Ding Yan (1794–1875), Ruan Kuisheng (1727–1789) and Wu Yujin (1698–1778) of Huai'an tied it to Wu (Lu Xun ch. 17 and notes).
7. English before Waley: Giles 1901, pp. 281–287, with "Master of the Horse to God" (p. 282); Richard 1913, title page credit to Ch'iu Ch'ang Ch'un, coverage per pp. xv–xvi (chs. 1–7, 11 and 98–100 fully, the rest outlined), 玉帝 as "God" (p. 48); Hayes 1930, title page "Wu Ch'eng-en", Hu Shih cited and Richard thanked (pp. 15–16), 105 pp.; Waley's preface on Giles and Richard ("only the abridgments") and on Hayes ("very inaccurate") (Internet Archive scans; Faded Page text).
8. The naming passages in chapters 1, 4, 8, 14, 19 and 22 (Wikisource). Richard's and Waley's notes on 姓/性 (Richard p. 14; Waley ch. I, n. 5). Richard's "Seeker" glosses for all three names (pp. 15, 106, 161; intro p. xxxvii) and Jenner's "Awakened to Emptiness / Power / Purity" (FLP 1990 and 1993, Open Library search-inside). Waley's single gloss "Aware-of-Vacuity", his "Monkey" at the 行者 naming in ch. XIV, and his omission of the radical analysis and of the 八戒 naming scene (Faded Page text).
9. Monkeys kept in stables against disease: 齊民要術 卷六 「常繫獼猴於馬坊」; 本草綱目 獸之四, quoting 《馬經》 「馬廄畜母猴，辟馬瘟疫」 (Wikisource). Caveat: the same entry glosses 母猴 as 沐猴, 「非牝也」, so translate "macaque".
10. 心猿, 意馬, 金公 and 木母 in the 1592 chapter titles (NCL scan pp. 6, 7, 10); 金公 and 黃婆 in 悟真篇, and 木母 absent from it (Wikisource full text); 木母 as mercury (Guo 1997); the mind-as-monkey image in T475 at 553a12 (CBETA); Richard's ch. LXXXVI heading "Pa Kiei helps to subdue the Demon. The Master uses religion…" (Richard text); none of these terms in Waley (full-text search of the Faded Page text).
11. Jenner began in winter 1964/65, was told to stop in June 1967, was invited back in summer 1978, saw vol. 1 out in 1982 and vol. 2 in 1984, finished over the next two summers, used blank verse of about four stresses, left out footnotes, and chose Monkey, Pig and Friar Sand while regretting Pigsy (Jenner, LARB 2016).
12. Yu's four volumes are dated 1977, 1978, 1980 and 1983; his text is substantially the 1592 edition plus "a single episode, drawn from a short version"; the novel holds about 750 poems and verse passages; Waley rendered "less than a third" (Lattimore 1983). The translation is complete, verse included (University of Chicago Press page, "in its entirety"). His renderings "Metal Squire", "Wood Mother", "Yellow Hag", "pi-ma-wen" (Open Library search-inside of Yu's volumes and the 2006 abridgment). The 2012 revision uses pinyin (press page).
13. Lovell worked from the 1954 Chinese edition and is about a quarter of the original's length (Chen 2021); she draws on 49 source chapters for 36 chapters and keeps Waley's names (Ping & Wang 2024); she deleted puns, including 唐人/糖人 in chapter 14 (Zhu & Luo 2022, p. 116, citing Lovell 2021, pp. xxxvii, 125). Waley kept that pun in a footnote (ch. XIV, n. 7).
14. Xuanzang, 602–664, brought back 657 texts and translated 75 with his helpers; Tripitaka means "the three baskets" (Lattimore 1983; Hu Shih 1923 gives 657 and 73). The Big Wild Goose Pagoda was begun under Xuanzang in 652 to hold the statues and scriptures he brought back (China Daily government page). The novel ends at the 雁塔寺 in Chang'an (Wikisource ch. 100).

**Contested, flag in the post or caption**
15. Wu Cheng'en's authorship. Write "attributed to Wu Cheng'en"; show the 1592 edition as anonymous. Liu 1995 defends the attribution against Zhang 1983. His dates vary by source: c. 1500–c. 1582 (Library of Congress heading), 1505–1580 (Waley), c. 1510–1580 (Lu Xun), c. 1520–c. 1580 (Hu Shih 1923). Use "c. 1500–c. 1582, dates uncertain".
16. The 1592 date: 壬辰 read as 1592 by most scholars and as 1532 by Huang Yongnian (Hsieh 2025, p. 144 n. 3). The script says "dated 1592 by most scholars".
17. The gazetteer's date: printed 1626 by its colophon; Hu Shih 1923 says 1626, Hu Shih 1942 says 1625, and Lattimore 1983 repeats 1625. Use "printed 1626".
18. Chapter 9, Xuanzang's birth story: absent from the 1592 edition and added in a Kangxi-era edition by Wang Xiangxu and Huang Zhouxing (Wikisource chapter note); Dudbridge traced it to Zhu Dingchen's short version, a conclusion Idema (2018, p. 3) says some scholars find hard to accept. Waley and Yu both include it.
19. Allegory or comedy: Hu Shih (1923, 1942) and Waley's selection against the 1592 preface's reading, Waley's own preface, and Yu's introduction (Lattimore 1983; Ji Hao 2016). Plaks's argument that Waley's selection misled readers was seen only as quoted on Wikipedia; open Plaks before citing it.
20. Jenner's volumes: common listings, including English Wikipedia, give "1982–84" and four volumes. Jenner's own account gives three volumes, the third finished two summers after 1984; Open Library dates ISBN 0-8351-1364-7 both 1982 and 1986. Four-volume FLP sets are later printings (1990, 1993).

**Unverified, check before publishing**
21. Whether Waley's "Oriental Press, Shanghai, 1921" is the Yadong Library 亞東圖書館 edition that Hu Shih prefaced in December 1921, and whether Waley's copy was the first printing or the second, which carried the 1923 essay (no scan or catalogue record located).
22. The earliest source for reading 弼馬溫 as 避馬瘟. Qian Zhongshu is quoted for it (徐儷成, 風傳媒, 2016) without a work named.
23. Lovell's renderings of 弼馬溫, 行者, 心猿, 意馬, 金公, 木母 and 黃婆 (no copy of her book seen), and whether any English version has appeared since 2021 (the draft's "most recent English version" was cut for this reason). Yu's glosses for 悟能 and 悟淨 in vol. 1 (1977), and his 2012 wording for 斜月三星洞, were not checked.
24. Richard's Chinese source text and the illustrated edition behind his plates; Jenner's source edition (a 1990 FLP note mentions the Shidetang edition, but the snippet cuts off its subject) and his 1982–86 first-printing wordings.
25. Supporting details: whether NCL call no. 08616 is the National Palace Museum copy (both count 20 volumes; no page says so); 黃婆 in the 1592 contents for chapter 53 (only the Wikisource title checked); Helen M. Hayes's dates and the John Murray London issue of her book (confirmed at series level only); whether the 1942 Allen & Unwin imprint gives the Museum Street address; the contents of the Bates (1943) and Ch'en (1945) reviews.