The second story, Trouble in Heaven, covers the next two chapters and uses only 431 words. For example the first story, Rise of the Monkey King, covers the events in the first two chapters of the novel and uses a vocabulary of just 507 words. It starts off relatively easy and gradually increases in complexity. It is a graded reader, which means that it uses a restricted vocabulary of Chinese words and a simple sentence structure. This book is NOT a literal translation of the original novel, which was written in the 16 th century and is difficult for modern readers. Wikipedia sums up the book’s role perfectly, saying, “Enduringly popular, the tale is at once a comic adventure story, a humorous satire of Chinese bureaucracy, a spring of spiritual insight, and an extended allegory in which the group of pilgrims journeys towards enlightenment by the power and virtue of cooperation.” Its place in Chinese literature is roughly comparable to Homer’s epic poem The Odyssey in Western literature. Journey to the West is probably the most famous and best-loved novel in China and is considered one of the four great classical novels of Chinese literature. It is written for people who are learning to read Simplified Chinese and want to enjoy a fascinating story while gaining a better understanding of Chinese history and culture. This ebook contains the complete text, in Simplified Chinese, pinyin and English, of the entire 31-volume Journey to the West series of graded readers by Jeff Pepper and Xiao Hui Wang.
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