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As one of the four top classical Chinese novels, The Journey to the West narrates the story of four pilgrims to the West for the Buddhist scriptures, with the Monkey King as a popular character to the vast readership. For centuries, this novel has exerted as much influence on the people as Pilgrims’ Progress by John Bunyan, especially in the present-day world when The Journey to the West has been adapted into films and television plays in several countries and has been well-acclaimed by a large audience all over the world.

Professor Anthony C. Yu (1938 — 2015) has produced a milestone of a work with his English translation of The Journey to the West. The fruit of a lifetime, Professor Yu’s version embodies the spirit of Chinese culture in fluent English. There have been a few English renderings of The Journey to the West up to now, but his version appears more accurate than that of W. J. F. Jenner, more comprehensive than those of Helen M. Hayes and Arthur Waley, and is more readable and vivacious for the contemporary readers. A classical novel has been thus evolving toward perfection through repeated re-translations.

- Professor Wang Rongpei Soochow University
 

A novel of real ambition must invent its own language, as does Wu Cheng’en’s; A novel of real translation must find its own language, as does Anthony C. Yu’s. Anthony C. Yu’s English version, like Wu Cheng’en’s Chinese story, will greatly | enhance a modern reader’s understanding and enjoyment of The Journey to the West — something of a miracle. 

- Professor Wang Hongyin Nankai University