"Journey to the West" can be described as a well-known masterpiece in the world, not only in the country everyone knows, but also has a certain degree of popularity in the world, such as the United States, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, Britain, Australia, Germany and other countries in the world have also adapted "Journey to the West" into film and television works many times, and are loved and sought after by the audience. In fact, in China, there is not only "Journey to the West", but "Journey to the East", "Journey to the South" and "Journey to the North", which are collectively called "Four Journeys" with "Journey to the West", and it is important to note that the "Four Journeys" here is "Journey to the West", not the original "Journey to the West", because they are the combined names of the four long magic novels that appeared during the Ming Dynasty.
In the "Four Journeys", first of all, let's talk about the "Journey to the West", the author of the book is Yang Zhihe, although it is called "Journey to the West", but the plot of the whole book is roughly the same as Wu Cheng'en's "Journey to the West", which is suspected of being roughly deleted and modified from "Journey to the West". There are a total of forty texts in the whole book, plus an appendix "Dream of Cutting the River Dragon", which is also a story about the Tang monks taking the scriptures, all the storylines can be found in "Journey to the West", the book not only loses the style of Wu Cheng'en's version, but also the writing is not fluent enough, the author does not understand the essence of the "Journey to the West" that integrates the three families of Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism, so it is recommended that readers read the original work of the Wu version, of course, if you want to spit it out, you can also find it.
The second one we talk about the relatively familiar "Journey to the East", I believe you know that "Journey to the East" is a Singapore TV series starring Ma Jingtao, but compared to the original work, the TV series version is quite large. "Journey to the East", also known as "The Legend of the Eight Immortals of Shangdong" and "The Origin of the Eight Immortals", is written by Wu Yuantai of the Ming Dynasty, and the whole book has a total of two volumes and fifty-six times, telling the story of the Eight Immortals Fighting the Dragon King. The story of the Eight Immortals is recorded in China's Western Han Dynasty, but the characters are not the same, until the Yuan Dynasty began to officially be named Han Zhongli, Zhang Guolao, Han Xiangzi, Tie Quan Li, Lü Dongbin, Lan Caihe, He Xiangu and Cao Guo uncle. Although "Journey to the East" is relatively familiar, the original work seems to be a mixture, like a patchwork of multiple stories, so that it is a bit chaotic, and the front of the book is relatively lengthy, and the previous Eight Immortals cultivation chapter is as boring as reading the resume of cadres, and many people who have watched the TV series and turned to the novel were disappointed.
Let's talk about "Journey to the South", "Journey to the South" is a mythological novel by The Ming Dynasty bookseller and writer Yu Xiangdou, the whole book consists of four volumes and eighteen times, mainly telling the mythical story of Hua Guang's three reincarnations, the surrender of the demon Voldemort, the three realms of great trouble, the search for his mother and the salvation of his mother, and the final result. This book is mainly based on Buddhist legends, coupled with its own phenomenon illusion, often see the reference to the "Journey to the West", such as Qi Tian Dasheng, Iron Fan Princess and other figures have also appeared.
Finally, let's talk about "Journey to the North", "Journey to the North" is also written by Yu Xiangdou, and this one is the one that the author is most interested in in the "Four Travels". The book consists of four volumes and twenty-four times, and the author takes the relevant legends of Emperor Zhenwu as a model, telling the mythical story of Emperor Zhenwu's demon exorcism after he was enlightened. The Zhenwu Emperor here is one of the three souls of the Jade Emperor, and the author has a peculiar conception, writing that the Jade Emperor's Zhenwu One Soul collects demons under the soul, but all the hearts are not exhausted, and they must also undergo cultivation to become immortals.
In the "Four Travels", Yu Xiangdou's "Journey to the South" and "Journey to the North" are relatively simple in description, but they are still very readable, and it can be recommended that everyone read it, and the other two can be read with the mentality of spitting.