Journey to the West (1986 TV Series) (2024)

Journey to the West (Chinese: 西遊記 Xī Yóu Jì) is a Chinese mythology TV series adapted from the classic novel with same title. It depicts the Monk Tang Sanzang's pilgrimage to the Vulture Peak with his disciples during the Tang Dynasty in ancient China. The series consists of two seasons, both directed by Yang Jie and produced by CCTV. It received great response from the audience and is widely considered as the best adaptation of the original work. First broadcasted in 1986, the series has been played for thousands of times on TV Networks. It is one of the most popular TV series in Chinese history.

It started filming in 1982, but was released in 1986. That is why some sources refer to it as the 1982 TV Series.

CCTV released the whole series on Youtube.

• Episodes 1-25
• Sequel

About[]

The director Yang Jie received the task from the Chinese officials to film the classic novel Journey to the West, which is one of China's Four Great Classical Novels. Though the one she really wanted to film is another one from the four great novels called Dream of the Red Chamber, director Yang Jie accepted the task and organized a film crew by 1982. The filming process was extremely tough at that time. Because of the nature of the original work as a mythology, the crew needs to use a lot of special effects in the show. However, with limitation in techniques and experience, making special effects costs the team great amount of money and causes considerable danger at the same time. Almost all of the main casts had experience of falling down when they were hung by the wires several meters above the ground. Despite the difficult conditions, the team managed to finish the first season after 6 years of filming. It was piloted on CCTV in 1986, and all of the 25 episodes were released by 1988. The show was an immediate success after being broadcasted. The viewership rate reached 89.4% in 1987.^[1]

In 1998, the crew gathered again to film the rest of the stories from the original work that were not covered in the first season. Since there wasn't a plan to film a second season, the story was already finished by the end of first season. As a result, the crew adapted the uncovered story into flashbacks of the protagonists after they returned to the Tang Empire from the Vulture Peak. The second season consists of 16 episodes and was broadcasted on CCTV in 2000.

Main Plot[]

One day,a monkey is born from a stone nourished by the essence of the world. Hebecomes an Immortal after being named as Sun Wukongandpracticing Taoist for hundred of years. Hemakes his name ofGreat Sage Equal to Heaven (齐天大圣) after starting a waragainstthe Heavens. The Monkey causes great trouble inthe Heaven, as almost no one can matches his power. Whenhe finally threats the Jade Emperorto give up his position, the Buddha arrives andmanages to trap him under a mountain for five hundred years.

Five hundred years later, a monk called Tang Sanzang in the Tang Empire sets out to bring back Buddhist scriptures from theVulture Peakin India under the instruction ofGuanyin Bodhisattva. He releases the Monkey from the mountain, make him his disciple and meets the other three disciples during the journey. As a team, they experiences 81 tribulations, defeats relentless demons and manages toreceivethe scriptures from theBuddha at the end of the journey. They then returns to the Tang Empire, spreadsthe thoughts from the scriptures and tells the emperor about their experiences inthe whole trip.

Main Characters[]

Season 1[]

Main Cast[]

Episode List[]

#	Image	Title (Chinese)	Plot
Ep1		猴王初问世	A monkey is born from a stone nourished by the world's essence. He travels around the world to pursue the methods of becoming immortal.
Ep2		官封弼马温	Sun Wukong becomes powerful after Taoist practice. He is summoned by the Heaven to become a governor.
3		大圣闹天宫	Wukong returns to the Heaven as the "Great Sage", but he causes a havoc in the Heaven which leads to an enormous battle.
4		困囚五行山	Wukong is subdued by the Buddha and is sealed under a mountain. 500 years later, the monk Tang Sanzang starts his journey under the instruction of Guanyin Bodhisattva.
5		猴王保唐僧	Wukong is finally released by Sanzang from the mountain and becomes his disciple. However, he is in conflicts with Sanzang immediately.
6		祸起观音院	Sanzang and Wukong arrives at Guanyin Monastery. Wukong demonstrates Sanzang's kasaya to the monks there, which causes them great trouble.
7		计收猪八戒	Sanzang and Wukong meets a pigsy demon, who turns out be the disciple waiting for Sanzang's arrival.
8		坎涂逢三难	Sanzang and his disciples suffer from three tribulations. A new disciple called Sha Wujing joins the team.
9		偷吃人参果	Sanzang and his disciples arrives at Wuzhuang Temple. There is a tree with fruits that enable people to live for thousands of years. However, Monkey destroys it due to his conflicts with the Taoist priests and irritates a powerful Immortal.
10		三打白骨精	A cunning demoness transforms into humans to trick Sanzang for three times and leads Sanzang to break up with Wukong.
11		智激美猴王	Sanzang and his disciples meets a powerful demon after Wukong left. He is tranformed into a tiger by the demon. Feeling helplessly, Bajie goes to find the dismissed Monkey King and prompts him to join the team again.
12		夺宝莲花洞	Two demons want to eat Sanzang and abducts everyone except Wukong to their cave. Wukong has to use all types of methods to beat the demons' magical items.
13		除妖乌鸡国	A king tells in Sanzang's dream that he is murdered by a demon and asks Sanzang to save him. Wukong then goes to the heaven to ask for help.
14		大战红孩儿	A demon disguises as a child to abduct Sanzang away. It turns out that he is the child of Wukong's old friend.
15		斗法降三怪	The pilgrims arrive at a kingdom where monks are tortured. It is actually the result of three demons pretend as Taoist masters. Wukong then starts a conpetition with the demons.
Ep16		趣经女儿国	The pilgrims get into a kingdom only consists of women. There, Sanzang faces great temptation from a gentle and beautiful queen and another equally charming demoness.
17		三调芭蕉扇	The pilgrims come across a burned mountain. Wukong asks for help from the Princess Iron Fan, but is rejected by her due to Wukong's subdue of her son.
18		扫塔辨奇冤	The pilgrims arrive at a kingdom that arrests all the monks. It turns out the national treasure was missed by monks in the royal temple. Wukong and Bajie start to search for the missing treasure.
19		误入小雷音	Sanzang is abducted by a bunch of demons and tempted by a charming lady. After being saved, he and his disciplesarriveat the Thunder Temple, but Wukong immediately recognizes it as a fake one. The demon who transformed intothe Buddha then captures all of them.
20		孙猴巧行医	The king of the country the prilgrims enter is terribly illed. Wukong uses his medical knowledge to help the king recover. However, the reason for the king to get illed is because of his robbed wife.
21		错坠盘丝洞	Sanzang goes to ask for some food and is trapped by seven demonesses. Wukong manages to save him from their cave. They are then offered cups of tea by a Taoist master when they pass a Taoist temple. Yet, the Taoist master turns out to be brothers of the seven demonesses.
22		四探无底洞	A beautiful demoness uses tricks to abduct Sanzang away and persuades the monk to be her husband. Wukong almost saves Sanzang, but he finds out the demoness is related to some Immortals in the Heaven.
23		传艺玉华州	A king has a bad dream of suffering from a monk. As a result, he orders to arrest all the monks in his country. Wukong use his magic power to cut the king's hair and enlightens him. However, a demon comes and steals their weapon.
24		天竺收玉兔	A demoness robbed the princess of the kingdom and transformed herself into the princess. She traps Sanzang to be her prince, but her plan is destroyed by Wukong.
25		波生极乐天	The pilgrims finally reach the Vulture Peak and are given the scriptures. Yet, they find out that the scriptures are actually blank.

References[]

Links[]

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journey_to_the_West_(1986_TV_series)

• https://xiyouji.fandom.com/zh/wiki/%E8%A5%BF%E6%B8%B8%E8%AE%B0%EF%BC%881982%E5%B9%B4%E4%B8%AD%E5%9B%BD%E4%B8%AD%E5%A4%AE%E7%94%B5%E8%A7%86%E5%8F%B0%E5%87%BA%E5%93%81%E7%94%B5%E8%A7%86%E5%89%A7%EF%BC%89

• https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E8%A5%BF%E6%B8%B8%E8%AE%B0/6786341

• https://news.cgtn.com/news/2019-07-03/Literary-script-of-Journey-to-the-West-to-be-released-I22OV68FZm/index.html