Daily writing prompt
If you had to switch lives with a fictional character for a week, who would you choose?
Sun Wu Kong. Unmitigated mischief might make a nice change. It’s obviously not for the immortality.
PROMPT: Fictional Character
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Tag Archives: Monkey King
BOOK: 齐天大圣 by Yinuo Wang
齐天大圣 Monkey King: A Bilingual Chinese Storybook (Pinyin & English) with HSK Vocabulary by Yinuo WangMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Amazon Page
This book collects episodes from the classic Chinese novel, Journey to the West, and condenses each into a page or two. Specifically, these are episodes from early in the story of Journey to the West, before the protagonist (a.k.a. Sun Wu Kong / the Monkey King / the Great Sage Equal to Heaven) actually departs on his journey to the west with a monk to get Buddhist scriptures. It is Sun Wu Kong’s origin story in a highly condensed form.
The illustrations of the book are aesthetically pleasing and are colorful and non-threatening (i.e. suitable for young readers.) Also, the book has quizzes and vocabulary building exercises at the back.
My biggest criticism of the book would be that it bites off more than it can chew. With single pages for major events and no room for transitions, the plates are a bit incongruous and don’t feel like a story as much as like viewing someone’s scrapbook. A lesser criticism would be that with a loose translation style (which is fine,) it sometimes translates the same characters in two different ways. (As it does with the title card which it translates quite literally as “The Great Sage Equal to Heaven” and the opening page where it translates the same four-character phrase quite loosely as “The Great Monkey King.”) This would not be an issue if the book were not a book for learning to read.
As I said, this is more like Sun Wu Kong’s scrapbook than his life story, but it is a nice way to practice beginner level reading. I’d recommend it for those beginning to read Chinese, particularly if one already knows the Journey to the West story.
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BOOK: “The Immortal Peaches” [Vol. 3 of “Journey to the West”] Ed. by Jeff Pepper / Trans. by Xiao Hui Wang
The Immortal Peaches: A Story in Simplified Chinese and Pinyin, 600 Word Vocabulary by Jeff PepperMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Publisher Site – Imagin8
This is the third volume in this Journey to the West series aimed at language learners. It covers Chapters 5, 6, and 7 of the book, which includes events from Sun Wukong’s return to heaven acknowledged with the title “Great Sage Equal to Heaven” through the conflicts that result from his lack of control and decorum to Buddha’s bet with Monkey King.
I’ve enjoyed this series. The pinyin is interspersed with an abridged and linguistically simplified Chinese telling of the story on a paragraph basis, and the English translation is at the end. This allows one relatively quick access to the pinyin without continually cheating by stray glance. Also, one can determine whether one wants to read the English translation before or after reading the Chinese, as is appropriate to one’s level and language learning strategy. The book also has a glossary of all the Chinese words it uses, and the words beyond the most basic (beyond HSK3, or so) are footnoted. (I read on kindle, so looking up translations of any words is as quick as highlighting them.)
This is a great language learning tool, featuring one of Chinese literature’s most engrossing stories. I’d highly recommend it for those learning Mandarin Chinese with Simplified script.
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BOOK: “Trouble in Heaven” [Vol. 2 “Journey to the West” (西游记) Series] ed. by Jeff Pepper / trans. by Xiao Hui Wang
Trouble in Heaven: A Story in Simplified Chinese and Pinyin, 600 Word Vocabulary Level by Jeff PepperMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Publisher Site – Imagin8
This is an abridged and linguistically simplified telling of the story of chapters three and four of the Chinese classic novel, Journey to the West. It is written and organized for learners of Chinese who would like to start reading in Chinese.
The events covered in this volume are Monkey King’s (a.k.a. Sun Wukong’s) acquisition of weapons for himself and his companions, his discovery that his name is on the registry of the underworld (and, thus, he’s not as immortal as he’d believed at the end of Vol. 1,) his ascension to heaven where he is given the job of stable manager (a life and job he is happy with until his discovery that it is the lowest level job in heaven,) and his skirmishes with the forces of heaven when he takes on the title “Great Sage Equal to Heaven.”
The story is conveyed in Simplified Chinese script, and has pinyin interspersed at the paragraph level. I like this arrangement because one has access to the pinyin as needed, but it’s not immediately adjacent (as it is with many starter readers,) such that it’s not possible to “cheat” by seeing the pinyin in one’s peripheral vision. It also offers an English language telling of the story, but after the entirety of the Chinese. The book also has three glossaries that collectively define all the terms used in the book. The first contains all the proper nouns, the second is all the basic words, and the last is all the words that are a little outside the most basic reading level. (The latter are also footnoted throughout the text.)
I’m enjoying this series. It’s a gripping story, it’s arranged in a way that encourages one read by the Chinese characters alone, and it is readable by the most beginning level student. That’s a combination that isn’t readily found. I’d highly recommend this series for those learning to read Chinese.
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BOOKS: “Rise of the Monkey King” ed. / trans. Jeff Pepper & Xiao Hui Wang
The Rise of the Monkey King: A Story in Simplified Chinese and Pinyin, 600 Word Vocabulary Level by Jeff PepperMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Publisher Site – Imagin8
This is an abridged and linguistically simplified telling of the first two chapters of Journey to the West. It contains the birth story of Sun Wukong (i.e. the Monkey King) and describes his studies with a sage in an attempt to become immortal.
As someone learning Chinese but at a point where I can only read grammatically and lexically simple content, it’s not easy to find reading material that is both fun to read and readable. The discovery of this series was a godsend. It’s hard to get more thrilling than the story of the Monkey King, and it helps that I’ve already read translations – and so have a bit of context to piece together challenging sentences and to avoid the misunderstandings that can arise when reading a new language. It’s much easier to be a disciplined reader when reading something that is neither a children’s book nor the life story of a preternaturally typical person [which is the usual adult equivalent of a beginner level reader.]
I was pleased by how this book was laid out. Often reading material for learners puts the Chinese characters (hanzi,) the Romanized phonetics (pinyin,) and the English translation all in adjacent rows. While this has its advantages, it also makes it too easy to cheat by eye saccade and not be reading as well as one thinks one is. This book does have all three elements, but it alternates paragraphs of hanzi and pinyin but then puts the translation in an unbroken format after the Mandarin. The book also has a glossary of the book’s vocabulary.
Whether you’ve already read Journey to the West or not, if you’re just learning to read Simplified Chinese, I’d highly recommend this book.
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Sun Wukong [Common Meter]
The Monkey King with magic staff outmatched monsters and gods, defying the Jade Emperor's edicts against all odds. He erased himself from out of The Book of Life and Death, and lived through the Crucible -- nearly holding his breath. Finally, the gods called Buddha, though some had their qualms, but the one thing Monkey couldn't do was leap from Buddha's palm.
