I enjoy watching the show Journey to the West (1996) 西遊記 produced by TVB. There had been many versions made on this story, written slightly more than 100 years ago. But I find the one by TVB is excellent- no doubt, there are various modern elements including rap style inserted into the show- but the show is very profound in scripts and lessons- even though the original story may have been adopted, it is to reflect the life’s lessons- most of which we can relate to our own life.
The comical elements should not be taken as offence- as after a tired day of working, it is so much entertaining at the same time having the lessons sink home if there is an element of lightheartedness injected to it.
So I would like to expand the values as shown on this 1996 version produced by TVB. You would see that each disciple symbolizes hatred, greed and ignorance- and their journey shows that how each seeker who have those attributes were able to overcome them as well. During each encounter with evil spirits and obstacles, the script had been well crafted to show how these obstacles came about and what lessons that was learned after each obstacles.
The situations shown on the drama series very well mimics many life’s daily situation as I would illustrate in writing in which would be covered in subsequent blog posts:
- Part 01: Tang Sanzang (Golden Cicada)- the teacher
- Part 02: Sun Wukong- Monkey King
- Part 03: Zhu Bajie
- Part 04: Sha Wu Jing
- Part 05: How Tang Sanzang began his to Journey to the West
- Part 06: The meeting with the final disciple- Sha Wujing
- Part 07: Meeting the Red Kid and Dream Demon- Journey to the West
- Part 08: Friction between WuKong and Piggie- Journey to the West
- Part 09: The Skeleton Spirit- Journey to the West
- Part 10: WuKong gets banished- Journey to the West
- Part 11: Sha Wujing killed someone by mistake- Journey to the West
- Part 12: Piggie falls in love again- Journey to the West
- Part 13: The Revenge of the Skeleton Spirit
- have not completed subsequent episodes…
View the Theme song via YouTube (sang by Dicky Cheung who was also played the character Sun Wukong).
Main Cast of the drama series:

Cast:
- Tang Sanzang (Golden Cicada)- the teacher (actor: Kwong Wah or Kong Wah 江华)
- Sun Wukong- Monkey King (actor: Dicky Cheung Wai Kin 张卫健)
- Zhu Bajie– Piggie (actor: Wayne Lai Yiu Cheung 黎耀祥)
- Sha Wu Jing (actor: Evergreen Mak Cheung Chin 麦长青)
where to download this series?
Thanks a heap for sharing info… very informative.