'Journey to the West' attracts Chinese literature enthusiasts

Foreign diplomats concentrate on reading 81 adventures during the Buddhist monk Xu??nz??ng's pilgrimage to India in the T??ng dynasty in order to obtain Buddhist religious texts called s??tras in China Exhibition Hall of Journey to the West on Saturday, December 17, 2011 in Huai??an city in east China. [Photo: CRIENGLISH.com]

"Journey to the West" is one of the four great classical novels of Chinese literature. Now a number of foreign diplomats have become fans of the work, after their recent tour to an exhibition hall which was built based on the literature masterpiece.

The Chinese Exhibition Hall of Journey to the West, located in Huai'an City, Jiangsu Province, is a large thematic exhibition that uses sound, light and video applications to fully trace and interpret the classic work "Journey to the West".

The exhibition hall recently received a 100-member delegation of foreign ambassadors and of embassy staff members. According to the curator Qi Guirong, it's the third formal foreign delegation that has paid a visit to the exhibition hall so far.

Qi says that such a visit made by foreign delegations helps promote Chinese culture.

"I think international visitors will help spread the reputation of 'Journey to the West.' The novel boasts a wealth of educational content, in which innovation and team spirit are encouraged. After a visit to the exhibition hall, a German official has become a fan of the novel and arranged three successive visits for German government employees."

In contrast to the very ancient literature it represents, the exhibition hall is a newly-built tourist attraction. Qi Guirong said since it became open to the public in October 2010, it has received over a million visitors.

As a member of the foreign diplomat's delegation, Raymond Lopez, second secretary of Beijing's embassy of the Philippines, feels very fortunate to have had the opportunity to have a tour of the exhibition hall to satisfy his childhood curiosity.

"When I was young, we usually watched this on TV in the Philippines. The characters in that novel, you know for a child like me---a curious child--they made me feel very happy. They are very comic, especially the Monkey King. I learnt more about the characters during our visit this afternoon. It made me more curious, so most probably when I go back to Beijing, I will do more research about it."

Covering an area of 2600 square meters, the exhibition hall has eight parts, such as "Historical myth", "In and out of the book" and "Sand table". On the hall's second floor, there is a 4D cinema studio. The studio is built in the shape of a complicated furnace, the device in which the Monkey King, was tortured for several weeks by burning flames.

The hall was also constructed in memory of the author of Journal to the West, Wu Cheng'en, a native of Huai'an city. A well-known Chinese novelist and poet of the Ming Dynasty, Wu Cheng'en is esteemed by generations for the tale he composed, a tale which deserves its honourable place in Chinese literature.