Country: China
Release Date: 2 January 2010 (China)
Also Known As: Journey to the West
Genres: Action | Adventure | Drama | Fantasy
A monkey born from a stone nourished by the Five Elements, who learns the art of the Tao, 72 polymorphic transformations, combat, and secrets of immortality, and through guile and force makes a name for himself as the Qítiān Dàshèng or “Great Sage Equal to Heaven”. His powers grow to match the forces of all of the Eastern (Taoist) deities, and the prologue culminates in Sūn’s rebellion against Heaven, during a time when he garnered a post in the celestial bureaucracy. Hubris proves his downfall when the Buddha manages to trap him under a mountain and sealing the mountain with a talisman for five hundred years.
Dismayed that “the land of the South knows only greed, hedonism, promiscuity, and sins”, the Buddha instructs the bodhisattva Guānyīn to search Táng China for someone to take the Buddhist sutras of “transcendence and persuasion for good will” back to the East. The Guanyin enlightens Chen Xuan-zang to let him go to the west. The Emperor Taizong takes Xuanzang as his younger brother, and grants him the name “San Zang”. Tang-zang saves Sun Wu-kong from the mountain, and Sun Wu-kong is given a Jin Gu(wore in the head) by Guanyin. They master and apprentice keep on going. They conquered Bai Long in Ying Chou Jian, and Zhu Ba-jie(also named Greedy pig) in Gao Lao Zhuang as his second apprentice. In Liu Sha River, he conquered Sha Wu-jing as his third apprentice. Four of them go to the west together to search for the Buddhist sutras.
