Jeff Pepper

Xiao Hui Wang

A young boy finds himself alone in a ship in a terrible storm. All the other passengers and crew are dead. Suddenly he sees a bright yellow ball of fire on the mast...

This is a short story in Simplified Chinese, pinyin and English, excerpted from the short story collection "Learn to Read Chinese, Book 1" by Jeff Pepper and Xiao Hui Wang. It's based on stories told by Norman Hinsdale Pitman in "A Chinese Wonder Book" originally published in 1918.

Folk tales are immensely popular in China. Passed down orally over the centuries from grandparents and parents to children, they serve as an unwritten handbook for living in society. Nearly all Chinese folk tales are about simple people who find themselves in difficult situations. These people are often helped (and occasionally hindered) by talking animals, as well as by powerful gods, wizards and other supernatural beings who actively participate in events here on earth. Within every Chinese folk tale is an underlying moral message derived from one of the three major schools of spiritual thought – Daoism (also called Taoism), Confucianism, and Buddhism.

Pitman's versions of these stories are wonderfully written, but they were written over a century ago. He wrote them in English for English-speaking readers, and this unrestricted vocabulary is not quite what we're looking for in a graded reader such as this. So we have taken the liberty of retelling this story to use just 358 different Chinese words, most of which are in the standard 1200-word HSK4 vocabulary .

A Short Story in Simplified Chinese, Pinyin and English

The Ball of Fire

"The Rise of the Monkey King" is the first book in the "Journey to the West" series of stories by Jeff Pepper and Xiao Hui Wang. Other titles include "Trouble in Heaven", "The Immortal Peaches" and "The Young Monk". NOTE: This book is written in Traditional Chinese, the character set used primarily in Taiwan. The book is also available in Simplified Chinese, the character set used in mainland China. Sun Wukong, the Handsome Monkey King, is one of most famous characters in Chinese literature and culture. His legendary bravery, his foolish mistakes, his sharp-tongued commentary and his yearning for immortality and spiritual knowledge have inspired hundreds of books, television shows, graphic novels, video games and films. The full story of Sun Wukong's adventures is told in Journey To The West, an epic 2,000 page novel written in the 16th Century by Wu Cheng'en. 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. Its place in Chinese literature is roughly comparable to Homer's epic poem The Odyssey in Western literature. 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." Journey To The West is a very, very long story, consisting of a hundred chapters. It is loosely based on an actual journey by the Buddhist monk Xuanzang who traveled from the Chinese city of Chang'an westward to India in 629 A.D. and returned 17 years later with priceless knowledge and texts of Buddhism. Over the course of the book Xuanzang and his companions face the 81 tribulations that Xuanzang had to endure to attain Buddhahood. This book, The Rise of the Monkey King, covers the events in the first two chapters of this epic story. We learn how the little stone monkey is born, becomes king of his troop of monkeys, leaves his home to pursue enlightenment, receives the name Sun Wukong (literally, "ape seeking the void") from his teacher, and returns home to defend his subjects from a ravenous monster. Future books in this series will tell more stories from the life of this famous monkey and his companions. Because of this story's importance in Chinese culture, we've made every effort to remain faithful to the original while retelling it in simple language suitable for beginning Chinese learners at the HSK 3 level. We have tried to not add or change anything, though of course we've had to leave out a lot of detail. Wherever we had to use a word or phrase not contained in the 600-word HSK 3 vocabulary (which for example does not include the word "monkey"!) or that has not entered common usage since the HSK lists were created, those new words are defined in footnotes on the page where they first appear. New compound (multi-character) words and expressions are, whenever possible, chosen so that they use characters already in HSK 3. An English version of the story is included for reference at the end, as well as a complete glossary. In the main body of the book, each page of Chinese characters is matched with a facing page of pinyin. This is unusual for Chinese novels but we feel it's important. By including the pinyin, the English version and the glossary, we hope that every reader, no matter what level of mastery they have of the Chinese language, will be able to understand and enjoy the story we tell here. Our website, www.imagin8press.com, contains many helpful study aids, including links to other books you might enjoy.

The Rise of the Monkey King: A Story in Traditional Chinese and Pinyin, 600 Word Vocabulary Level

Based on Investiture of the Gods by Xu Zhonglin, in Easy Chinese, Pinyin and English

The Last King of Shang, Book 2

The Last King of Shang, Book 3

China, 1057 B.C. The foolish king of the Shang Dynasty has gravely insulted a goddess. In revenge, the goddess sends a thousand-year-old fox demon to extinguish the soul of the beautiful young Daji, inhabit her body, and seduce the king into taking her as his chief concubine. Daji slowly gains control of the king and his kingdom, leading the Shang Dynasty towards chaos and disaster. But gods and demons are all watching closely and try to take matters into their own hands. This book is based on Chapters 1 through 17 of The Investiture of the Gods, one of the most famous novels in classic Chinese literature. It is a gripping tale of powerful gods, scheming mortals and epic battles, but it also explores the dilemma faced by loyal government officials who must choose between their country and its corrupt leader. Now Jeff Pepper and Xiao Hui Wang have retold this epic story to make it accessible to Chinese readers of all levels, using a limited vocabulary, simpler sentences, and fewer proper nouns. Each page of Chinese is also shown in phonetic pinyin. Words not included the HSK4 list of commonly used words are defined where they first appear in the text. A full English translation and glossary are included in the back of the book. And a free audiobook is available on YouTube and the Imagin8 Press website. Jeff Pepper and Xiao Hui Wang are co-authors of dozens of best-selling books for English-speaking people learning Chinese language and culture, including the best selling 31-volume Journey to the West series and innovative translations of the Dao De Jing, Art of War, and San Zi Jing. Their books are available at www.imagin8press.com and from most online booksellers.

Based on Investiture of the Gods by Xu Zhonglin, In Easy Chinese, Pinyin and English

The Last King of Shang, Book 1

In a dark forest the monk Tangseng comes upon a beautiful young woman tied to a tree and half-buried in the ground. The monk frees her, not realizing she is a deadly mouse demon. Later they arrive at a nearby monastery where she devours some monks and tries to force Tangseng to marry her. Sun Wukong learns the truth about her, lodges a complaint with the great Jade Emperor in heaven, and battles the mouse demon to save his master. This is the 27th book in the best-selling The Journey to the West series of stories for students learning to read Simplified Chinese. It is based on the epic 16th century novel of the same name by Wu Chen'en. That novel was inspired by an actual journey by the Buddhist monk Tangseng, who traveled from Chang'an westward to India in 629 A.D. and returned seventeen years later with priceless knowledge and spiritual texts. Over the course of the book the four travelers face the 81 tribulations that Tangseng had to endure to attain Buddhahood. All 27 books in the Journey to the West series have used a total of about 2000 different Chinese words, but only 904 words are used in this book. We introduce 23 words for the first time in this book, and each one is defined on the page where it is first used. The book includes pinyin, an English translation, and a full glossary. A free audiobook is available on YouTube's Imagin8 Press channel and on the Imagin8 Press website.

A Story in Simplified Chinese and Pinyin

The Monk and the Mouse

The devotional Daily Triumph features at least one message from each book of the Bible. Also included is Ruth; the book of redemption and Colossians; the book telling of Christ as the supreme and all-sufficient one. Besides this you will find eighteen devotional messages on the work of the Holy Spirit inter-mingled throughout. Finally, each devotional features "Today's Hymn." This is the title of a hymn so that you can reflect on the song. Read through it, give it some thought, and may the Lord use it to put a song in your heart.Jeff Pepper was born and raised in Sterling, Illinois. After graduating from high school, and going out on his own to earn a living, he started attending church. He did not attend regularly though, because the church he tried did not seem to line up with what he read in his Bible at home. While working at his place of employment a man was hired that talked to him about spiritual things. This man invited him to visit the church he went to; which was Faith Baptist Church in Sterling, Illinois. This church preached the truth of God's Word. Therefore, after attending for about a year he realized this was indeed what he had been seeking. So in July of 1978 he accepted Christ as his Savior, and went on to serve faithfully there. He later married and started raising a family. He, his wife Sheila, and daughters Janna and Michelle now reside in Shannon, Illinois, In April of 2001 the Lord laid on his heart a burden to put together a devotional book using messages from pastors, evangelists, missionaries, Christian educators, and others in full-time Christian service. Now, almost ten years later this devotional is here.

Daily Triumph

In this, the 10th book in our "Journey to the West" series, the monk Tangseng and his disciples have been traveling for two or three years. They arrive at a secluded mountain monastery which turns out to be the home of a powerful master Zhenyuan and an ancient and magical ginseng tree. As usual, the travelers' search for a nice hot meal and a place to sleep quickly turns into a disaster. Although Zhenyuan has gone away for a few days, he has left his two youngest disciples in charge. They welcome the travelers, but soon there are misunderstandings, arguments, battles in the sky, and before long the travelers are facing a powerful and extremely angry adversary, as well as mysterious magic fruits and a large frying pan full of hot oil. This book is based on Journey to The West (西游记, xī yóu jì), an epic novel written in the 16th Century by Wu Chen'en. The novel is loosely based on an actual journey by the Buddhist monk Tangseng (called Xuanzang and Sanzang in earlier books), who traveled from the Chinese city of Chang'an westward to India in 629 A.D. and returned 17 years later with priceless knowledge and texts of Buddhism. Over the course of the book the band of travelers face the 81 tribulations that Tangseng had to endure to attain Buddhahood. All of the stories in this series are all written in simple language suitable for intermediate Chinese learners. Our core vocabulary for this book is 1,200 words, made up of the 600 words of HSK-3 plus another 600 or so words that were introduced in the previous books of the series. These words are all in the glossary at the back of the book. Whenever we introduce a new word or phrase, it's defined in a footnote on the page where it first appears, and also appears in the glossary. In the main body of the book, each page of Chinese characters is matched with a facing page of pinyin. This is unusual for Chinese novels but we feel it's important. By including the pinyin, as well as a full English version and glossary at the end, we hope that every reader, no matter what level of mastery they have of the Chinese language, will be able to understand and enjoy the story we tell here. Free audio versions of all books in this series are available on YouTube. Go to www.youtube.com and search for the Imagin8 Press channel to find all of our free audiobooks.

A Story in Simplified Chinese and Pinyin, 1200 Word Vocabulary Level

The Magic Ginseng Tree

The Revolution in Service Automation

We're Off to Seize the Wizard

"The Immortal Peaches" is the third book in the "Journey to the West" series of stories by Jeff Pepper and Xiao Hui Wang. Other titles include "Rise of the Monkey King", "Trouble in Heaven" and "The Young Monk". In this, the third book in the "Journey to the West" series, we wrap up the story of Sun Wukong's early years, before he joins the monk Xuanzang's little band of travelers and journeys to the West. Once again the Monkey King's unlimited ambitions and uncontrolled appetites land him in deep trouble. He is given a job in heaven taking care of the Emperor's Garden of Immortal Peaches, but he can't stop himself from eating all the peaches. He impersonates a great Immortal and crashes a party in Heaven, stealing the guests' food and drink and barely escaping to his loyal troop of monkeys back on Earth. And in the end, he battles an entire army of Immortals and men, and discovers that even calling himself the Great Sage Equal to Heaven does not make him equal to everyone in Heaven. Sun Wukong, the Handsome Monkey King, is one of most famous characters in Chinese literature and culture. His legendary bravery, his foolish mistakes, his sharp-tongued commentary and his yearning for immortality and spiritual knowledge have inspired hundreds of books, television shows, graphic novels, video games and films. The story is written, as much as possible, using the 600 word vocabulary of HSK 3. It is presented in simplified Chinese characters and pinyin, and includes an English version and complete glossary. A free Chinese language audiobook is also available on YouTube, on the Imagin8 Press channel.

The Immortal Peaches: A Story in Simplified Chinese and Pinyin, 600 Word Vocabulary Level

"The Rise of the Monkey King" is the first book in the "Journey to the West" series of stories by Jeff Pepper and Xiao Hui Wang. Other titles include "Trouble in Heaven", "The Immortal Peaches" and "The Young Monk". Sun Wukong, the Handsome Monkey King, is one of most famous characters in Chinese literature and culture. His legendary bravery, his foolish mistakes, his sharp-tongued commentary and his yearning for immortality and spiritual knowledge have inspired hundreds of books, television shows, graphic novels, video games and films. The full story of Sun Wukong's adventures is told in Journey To The West, an epic 2,000 page novel written in the 16th Century by Wu Cheng'en. 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. Its place in Chinese literature is roughly comparable to Homer's epic poem The Odyssey in Western literature. 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."Journey To The West is a very, very long story, consisting of a hundred chapters. It is loosely based on an actual journey by the Buddhist monk Xuanzang who traveled from the Chinese city of Chang'an westward to India in 629 A.D. and returned 17 years later with priceless knowledge and texts of Buddhism. Over the course of the book Xuanzang and his companions face the 81 tribulations that Xuanzang had to endure to attain Buddhahood. This book, The Rise of the Monkey King, covers the events in the first two chapters of this epic story. We learn how the little stone monkey is born, becomes king of his troop of monkeys, leaves his home to pursue enlightenment, receives the name Sun Wukong (literally, "ape seeking the void") from his teacher, and returns home to defend his subjects from a ravenous monster. Future books in this series will tell more stories from the life of this famous monkey and his companions. Because of this story's importance in Chinese culture, we've made every effort to remain faithful to the original while retelling it in simple language suitable for beginning Chinese learners at the HSK 3 level. We have tried to not add or change anything, though of course we've had to leave out a lot of detail. Wherever we had to use a word or phrase not contained in the 600-word HSK 3 vocabulary (which for example does not include the word "monkey"!) or that has not entered common usage since the HSK lists were created, those new words are defined in footnotes on the page where they first appear. New compound (multi-character) words and expressions are, whenever possible, chosen so that they use characters already in HSK 3. An English version of the story is included for reference at the end, as well as a complete glossary. In the main body of the book, each page of Chinese characters is matched with a facing page of pinyin. This is unusual for Chinese novels but we feel it's important. By including the pinyin, the English version and the glossary, we hope that every reader, no matter what level of mastery they have of the Chinese language, will be able to understand and enjoy the story we tell here. The story is written, as much as possible, using the 600 word vocabulary of HSK 3. It is presented in simplified Chinese characters and pinyin, and includes an English version and complete glossary. A free Chinese language audiobook is also available on YouTube, on the Imagin8 Press channel.

A Story in Simplified Chinese and English, 600 Word Vocabulary Level

Rise of the Monkey King

"The Hungry Pig" is the 8th book in the "Journey to the West" series of stories by Jeff Pepper and Xiao Hui Wang. Other titles include "Rise of the Monkey King", "The Immortal Peaches" and "The Young Monk".This book is part of the Journey to the West series of stories for students learning to read Chinese. It is based on the epic 16th century novel of the same name by Wu Chen'en. The novel is loosely based on an actual journey by the Buddhist monk Tangsheng (formerly called Xuanzang), who traveled from the Chinese city of Chang'an westward to India in 629 A.D. and returned 17 years later with priceless knowledge and spiritual texts. Over the course of the book Tangsheng and his companions face the 81 tribulations that Tangsheng had to endure to attain Buddhahood.. In this, the 8th book in our series, we meet the pig-man known as Zhu Bajie, who becomes Tangseng's second disciple. Zhu is the junior disciple, having joined the Tang monk's service after Sun Wukong.In his previous life, Zhu was the Marshal of the Heavenly Reeds , responsible for the Jade Emperor's entire navy and 80,000 sailors. But unable to control his appetites, he got drunk at a festival and attempted to seduce the Goddess of the Moon. She reported this to the Jade Emperor, who furiously banished him to earth. As he plunged from heaven to earth he ended up in the womb of a sow (or, in some versions of the story, in the bottom of a pig well), and was reborn as a man-eating pig monster. This book tells the story of how Zhu was married to a farmer's daughter, fought with Sun Wukong, and ended up joining Tangsheng and Sun Wukong in their journey to the Western Heaven.

The Hungry Pig

This book is a compilation of the first three books - Rise of the Monkey King, Trouble in Heaven, and The Immortal Peaches - in our Journey to the West series of story books for people learning to read Chinese. These three stories all focus on the adventures of Sun Wukong, the Handsome Monkey King, is one of the most famous characters in Chinese literature and culture. His legendary bravery, his foolish mistakes, his sharp-tongued commentary and his yearning for immortality and spiritual knowledge have inspired hundreds of books, television shows, graphic novels, video games and films. The three stories told here are unchanged from our original versions, except for minor editing and reformatting as needed.In the main body of the book, each page of Chinese characters is matched with a facing page of pinyin. This is unusual for Chinese novels but we feel it's important. By including the pinyin, the English version and the glossary, we hope that every reader, no matter what level of mastery they have of the Chinese language, will be able to understand and enjoy the story we tell here. Our first story, The Rise of the Monkey King, covers the events in the first two chapters of this epic story. We learn how the little stone monkey is born, becomes king of his troop of monkeys, leaves his home to pursue enlightenment, receives the name Sun Wukong (literally, "ape seeking the void") from his teacher, and returns home to defend his subjects from a ravenous monster. The second story, Trouble in Heaven, covers the events of chapters 3 and 4 in the original epic. Things begin to unravel for Sun Wukong, as he starts to see the consequences of his outrageous actions. While trying to defend his monkey troop, he manages to offend the underwater Dragon King, the Dragon King's mother, all ten Kings of the Underworld, and the great Jade Emperor himself. Finally, goaded by a couple of troublemaking demons, he goes too far, calling himself the Great Sage Equal to Heaven and setting events in motion that cause him some serious trouble. In the third story, The Immortal Peaches, we wrap up the story of Sun Wukong's early years, before he joins the monk Xuanzang's little band of travelers and journeys to the West. Once again, the Monkey King's unlimited ambitions and uncontrolled appetites land him in deep trouble. He is given a job in heaven taking care of the Emperor's Garden of Immortal Peaches, but he can't stop himself from eating all the peaches. He impersonates a great Immortal and crashes a party in Heaven, stealing the guests' food and drink and barely escaping to his loyal troop of monkeys back on Earth. And in the end, he battles an entire army of Immortals and men, and discovers that even calling himself the Great Sage Equal to Heaven does not make him equal to everyone in Heaven.

The Journey to the West, Books 1, 2 and 3: Three Classic Stories in Simplified Chinese and Pinyin, 600 Word Vocabulary Level

A young boy shares a little house in Beijing with 23 cats. His friend comes to visit, but the two of them can't sit down, can't study, and can't even eat dinner together because of all the cats. What to do? The answer, which involves a very large dog, will surprise and delight you. This wonderful little tale is for beginning Chinese students of all ages. Its tiny vocabulary of just 101 words is taken from the HSK1 list of words used to teach beginning students of Chinese. Each page of Simplified Chinese is faced by an opposite page of pinyin (phonetic spelling), so if a reader gets stuck on an unfamiliar word they can check it against the pinyin. A complete glossary and English translation is in the back of the book, and a free audiobook is available on YouTube and can be downloaded from the Imagin8 Press website. Twenty Three Cats is written by Jeff Pepper, best-selling author of the multi-volume Journey to the West series for beginning and intermediate Chinese readers, and many other books including innovative translations of the Chinese classics Dao De Jing, San Zi Jing, and The Art of War.

Twenty Three Cats

"The Journey Begins" is the sixth book in the "Journey to the West" series of stories by Jeff Pepper and Xiao Hui Wang. Other titles are "Rise of the Monkey King", "Trouble in Heaven", "The Immortal Peaches", "The Young Monk", and "The Emperor in Hell". This book is based on chapters 12, 13 and 14 of Journey To The West, an epic novel written in the 16th Century by Wu Chen'en. Each book in our Journey to the West series covers a short section of the original 2,000-page novel. Journey To The West is loosely based on an actual journey by the Buddhist monk Xuanzang, who traveled from the Chinese city of Chang'an westward to India in 629 A.D. and returned 17 years later with priceless knowledge and texts of Buddhism. Over the course of the book the band of travelers face the 81 tribulations that Xuanzang had to endure to attain Buddhahood. This story, the sixth in our series, marks the end of the first section of the novel, as we wrap up the preliminaries and begin the actual journey. Several threads and key characters from earlier books come together. Taizong, the great emperor of the Tang Dynasty who spent most of Book Five trapped in the underworld, selects the young monk Xuanzang to undertake the journey, after being strongly influenced by the Buddhist teacher Guanyin. Xuanzang (now called Sanzang) sets out on his journey and receives help from Guanyin and from Bright Star of Venus, who previously appeared in Book Two. The Dragon King of the Eastern Ocean, who in Book One was Sun Wukong's adversary and was forced to give him his Jingu Bang (golden hoop rod weapon), is now Sun Wukong's old friend and gives him some life-changing advice. And near the end of the book Sanzang's path crosses that of Sun Wukong himself. The story is written, as much as possible, using the 600 word vocabulary of HSK 3. It is presented in simplified Chinese characters and pinyin, and includes an English version and complete glossary. Additional study aids are on our website, www.imagin8press.com. NOTE: this edition, published December 2019, is the same as the 2017 edition but with several edits and formatting fixes. The content is the same.

The Journey Begins: A Story in Simplified Chinese and Pinyin, 600 Word Vocabulary

In this, the 3rd book in our Journey to the West series, we wrap up the story of Sun Wukong's early years, before he joins the monk Xuanzang's little band of travelers and journeys to the West. Once again the Monkey King's unlimited ambitions and uncontrolled appetites land him in deep trouble. He is given a job in heaven taking care of the Emperor's Garden of Immortal Peaches, but he can't stop himself from eating all the peaches. He impersonates a great Immortal and crashes a party in Heaven, stealing the guests' food and drink and barely escaping to his loyal troop of monkeys back on Earth. And in the end, he battles an entire army of Immortals and men, and discovers that even calling himself the Great Sage Equal to Heaven does not make him equal to everyone in Heaven. This book is based on Journey to The West (西游记, xī yóu jì), an epic novel written in the 16th Century by Wu Chen'en. The novel is loosely based on an actual journey by the Buddhist monk Tangseng (called Xuanzang and Sanzang in earlier books), who traveled from the Chinese city of Chang'an westward to India in 629 A.D. and returned 17 years later with priceless knowledge and texts of Buddhism. Over the course of the book the band of travelers face the 81 tribulations that Tangseng had to endure to attain Buddhahood. All of the stories in this series are all written in simple language suitable for intermediate Chinese learners. Our core vocabulary is the 600 words of HSK-3, plus all the words that were introduced in the previous books of the series. All these words are in the glossary at the back of the book. Whenever we introduce a new word or phrase, it's defined in a footnote on the page where it first appears, and it also appears in the glossary. In the main body of the book, each page of Chinese characters is matched with a facing page of pinyin. This is unusual for Chinese novels but we feel it's important. By including the pinyin, as well as a full English version and glossary at the end, we hope that every reader, no matter what level of mastery they have of the Chinese language, will be able to understand and enjoy the story we tell here. Free audio versions of all books in this series are available on YouTube. Go to www.youtube.com and search for the Imagin8 Press channel to find all of our free audiobooks.

A Story in Traditional Chinese and Pinyin, 600 Word Vocabulary Level

The Immortal Peaches

The Buddhist monk Tangseng goes alone to beg some food at the home of some beautiful and seemingly gentle young women. He soon finds out that they are far from gentle. Trapped in their web, he waits to be cooked and eaten while his three disciples attempt to rescue him by confronting the spider demons, a horde of biting insects, and a mysterious Daoist alchemist. This is the 24th book in the best-selling The Journey to the West series of stories for students learning to read Chinese. It is based on the epic 16th century novel of the same name by Wu Chen'en. That novel was inspired by an actual journey by the Buddhist monk Tangseng, who traveled from Chang'an westward to India in 629 A.D. and returned seventeen years later with priceless knowledge and spiritual texts. Over the course of the book the four travelers face the 81 tribulations that Tangseng had to endure to attain Buddhahood. The first 24 books in the Journey to the West series have used a total of about 2000 different Chinese words, but only 791 words are used in this book. All new words are defined on the page where they are first used. The book uses Simplified Chinese characters and includes pinyin, an English translation, and a full glossary. A free audiobook is available on YouTube's Imagin8 Press channel and on www.imagin8press.com.

The Demons of Spiderweb Mountain

This is the 20th book in the best-selling The Journey to the West series of stories for students learning to read Chinese.

A Story in Simplified Chinese and Pinyin, 1800 Word Vocabulary Level

The Burning Mountain

In this, the Traditional Chinese version of the 4th book in our Journey to the West series, we leave the imprisoned Sun Wukong behind, and tell the story of Xuanzang, the monk chosen by the Buddha to undertake the dangerous journey westward to India and bring sacred wisdom back to China. Unlike the previous books which told of Sun Wukong's great adventures (and misadventures) across heaven and earth, this story deals with smaller, human-scale events and the traditional themes of love, loyalty, treachery and revenge. Our story begins with the Buddha's decision to bring his wisdom to China. Then we meet the young couple - Guangrui and Wenjiao - who become Xuanzang's parents. We witness their terrible ordeals around the time of Xuanzang's birth, and we then jump ahead to when he turns eighteen, learns of his true parentage, and avenges his parents.This book is based on Journey to The West (西游记, xī yóu jì), an epic novel written in the 16th Century by Wu Chen'en. The novel is loosely based on an actual journey by the Buddhist monk Tangseng (called Xuanzang and Sanzang in earlier books), who traveled from the Chinese city of Chang'an westward to India in 629 A.D. and returned 17 years later with priceless knowledge and texts of Buddhism. Over the course of the book the band of travelers face the 81 tribulations that Tangseng had to endure to attain Buddhahood.All of the stories in this series are all written in simple language suitable for intermediate Chinese learners. Our core vocabulary is the 600 words of HSK-3, plus all the words that were introduced in the previous books of the series. All these words are in the glossary at the back of the book. Whenever we introduce a new word or phrase, it's defined in a footnote on the page where it first appears, and it also appears in the glossary.In the main body of the book, each page of Chinese characters is matched with a facing page of pinyin. This is unusual for Chinese novels but we feel it's important. By including the pinyin, as well as a full English version and glossary at the end, we hope that every reader, no matter what level of mastery they have of the Chinese language, will be able to understand and enjoy the story we tell here.Free audio versions of all books in this series are available on YouTube. Go to www.youtube.com and search for the Imagin8 Press channel to find all of our free audiobooks.

A Story in Traditional Chinese and Pinyin, 600 Word Vocabulary

The Young Monk

"The Journey Begins", Traditional Chinese edition, is the sixth book in the "Journey to the West" series of stories by Jeff Pepper and Xiao Hui Wang. Other titles are "Rise of the Monkey King", "Trouble in Heaven", "The Immortal Peaches", "The Young Monk", and "The Emperor in Hell".This book is based on chapters 12, 13 and 14 of Journey To The West, an epic novel written in the 16th Century by Wu Chen'en. Each book in our Journey to the West series covers a short section of the original 2,000-page novel.Journey To The West is loosely based on an actual journey by the Buddhist monk Xuanzang, who traveled from the Chinese city of Chang'an westward to India in 629 A.D. and returned 17 years later with priceless knowledge and texts of Buddhism. Over the course of the book the band of travelers face the 81 tribulations that Xuanzang had to endure to attain Buddhahood.This story, the sixth in our series, marks the end of the first section of the novel, as we wrap up the preliminaries and begin the actual journey. Several threads and key characters from earlier books come together.Taizong, the great emperor of the Tang Dynasty who spent most of Book Five trapped in the underworld, selects the young monk Xuanzang to undertake the journey, after being strongly influenced by the Buddhist teacher Guanyin. Xuanzang (now called Sanzang) sets out on his journey and receives help from Guanyin and from Bright Star of Venus, who previously appeared in Book Two. The Dragon King of the Eastern Ocean, who in Book One was Sun Wukong's adversary and was forced to give him his Jingu Bang (golden hoop rod weapon), is now Sun Wukong's old friend and gives him some life-changing advice. And near the end of the book Sanzang's path crosses that of Sun Wukong himself.The story is written, as much as possible, using the 600 word vocabulary of HSK3. It is presented in Traditional Chinese characters and pinyin, and includes an English version and complete glossary. Additional study aids are on our website, www.imagin8press.com.

Jeff Pepper

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