Zhang Guangyu’s 張光宇 (1900-1965) overlooked masterpiece, Manhua Journey to the West 西遊漫記 was originally created in the fall of 1945 while Zhang was living in the wartime capital of Chongqing. Deeply critical of the ruling KMT government, it was eventually banned and did not see print for another 13 years. For the sake of introducing Zhang’s out-of-print work to a larger audience, I’ve taken the liberty of translating the entire 60 page comic into English and will be posting it in installments on my blog over the next several weeks.

In part 2 of this 6 part translation, Tripitaka and his three disciples, Monkey, Pigsy, and Sandy find themselves in the Kingdom of Paper Money, where advances in agricultural production have made it possible to grow money to replace gold and silver. 1 When the the rulers of the Kingdom of Paper Money, Emperor Xizong 熙宗皇帝2 and his wife, Empress Dai Ling 黛玲皇后 discover Zhu Bajie’s special ability, however, they quickly hatch a plan to make the most of this ‘golden opportunity.’ Meanwhile, in the Kingdom of Ey-qin, 埃秦 the Pharaoh3 has dispatched his most trusted advisor, the Crested Falcon 毛尖鹰4 to build a Great Wall of Ten Thousand Li with the help of the cruel “Crow-crow Birds”…

11. 正在闹轰轰，忽然远处气喘喘急步跑来一个人，手持武器喝声：“强盗！敢犯国法，你们休要偷我们的钞票！”大家急得连声说：“抱歉！抱歉！过路只不知底细，未曾问过明白，请教！请教”后来经这个人解释，原来这里是“纸币国”境界，他是看守纸币的围警，纸币可代金银使用，经国王数度改革，现在已由工业生产进至农业生产，全国遍种“纸币”可供大量使用，十分便利。

Just as they were making an uproar, suddenly a breathless person came running over, a weapon in his hands. He shouted, “Bandits! You dare violate the law of land! Don’t even think about stealing our money!” Everyone hurriedly shouted, “Sorry! Sorry! We were just passing by and didn’t know what was what, and didn’t have a chance to understand the situation, please instruct! Please instruct!” In the end, following this individual’s explanation, they learned that this was the border to the “Kingdom of Paper Money,” and that he was a paper money guard. Paper money could be used in the place of gold and silver, and following a number of reforms by the king it had advanced from industrial production to agricultural production. All over the country “paper money” was being grown to meet a massive demand, and all in all it really was rather convenient.

12. 这人又道：“入境的人，可留下金银，兑换“纸币”方准过去！”三藏等觉得这辨法很好，笔录下来，留作参考，至于被八戒摇下来的一堆“纸币”，由八戒肚子里吐出黄金一锭交与围警作为兑换金，就算和平了事。

The guard continued, saying, “Those entering our borders can leave gold or silver, which can be converted to ‘paper money’! Tripitaka and the others thought this was all rather fine, and so they wrote down the sum of the pile of money shaken down by Bajie. for reference. Bajie then spat out a gold ingot which had been hidden in his stomach to exchange for the paper money and with that everything was settled.

13. 朱八戒口吐黄金的消息，不到半日，早已传到纸币国京城内外，国舅杨天禄听得此情，急忙进宫去见妹子当今熙宗皇后黛玲娘娘。此时正当风和日丽，宫中鸟语花香， 只见熙宗皇帝御驾亲临百鸟亭，指手划脚正在训练众小鸟口叨纸币作出笼回笼上术，百花台上正坐着娘娘千岁，满身金饰，宝气珠光，但双眉颦蹙，含嗔带怒，似乎 有些不高兴，皇上整天只是弄着那些纸币，今见天禄笑嘻嘻迎上阶来，忙问道：“哥哥有甚快活事见告？”天禄即把朱八戒口叶[吐？]黄金的奇迹告诉了她。

In less than a half day’s time, the news of Zhu Bajie spitting up gold had reached the capital. Upon hearing this, the royal uncle, Yang Tianlu, hurriedly, went to the imperial palace to call on his younger sister, Empress Dai Ling, wife of Emperor Xizong. It was a pleasantly sunny day, with a calm wind. The palace was filled with the sound of birdsong and the fragrance of flowers. Emperor Xizong could be seen making his way to the Pavilion of Hundred Birds. Gesturing with his arms, he was training the birds to use their beaks to carry paper money in their mouths and fly in and out of their cage. Her majesty the Empress sat in the Pavilion of Blossoms, dressed in gold ornaments, with glistening jewels and shining pearls. Her eyebrows, however, were furrowed in displeasure, and her face betrayed anger. It seemed that she was rather unhappy about something. The emperor had spent the whole day playing with his paper money, so when the Empress saw Tianlu come smiling and laughing up the steps she hurriedly asked him, “Elder brother, whatever could it be that pleases you so much?” Whereupon Tianlu told her about the miracle of Zhu Bajie spitting up gold.

14. 娘娘一听大喜，即忙启奏皇帝知道，皇帝听了也甚欢喜，急传旨御林文武速备全副龙凤仪杖迎接贵宾入宫。

Upon hearing this, the Empress was overjoyed, and rushed to submit a report the Emperor, who was also extremely pleased to hear this news. He ordered the imperial officials of the state and military to speedily prepare the dragon and phoenix banners to welcome their honored guests into the palace.

15. 朱八戒在宫中，备受隆重招待，大宴小宴吃得油腾腾的快乐逍遥，尤其皇后对他更显得殷勤周到。问起他口二黄金之术，八戒道：“吃得精，吐得精！”娘娘满心要想精美黄金，命宫中多备龙肝凤髓，熊掌鹿脯，山珍海味，罗列满席，吃得八戒眉开眼笑，只是吃进去说不出话来。

In the palace, Zhu Bajie enjoyed an extravagant reception, freely partaking in all kinds of feasts of steaming and rich foods, and the Empress seemed especially courteous and attentive to his every need. When he was asked about the trick of spitting up gold, Bajie said, “If you eat fine things, then you can spit up fine things!” Thinking only of precious gold, the Empress ordered the palace servants to prepare dragon livers and phoenix marrow, claws of bear and the breasts of deer. A banquet of rare and exotic delicacies spread out before Bajie, who ate until his eyebrows rose in delight and he could no longer speak, so busy was he with the eating of it all.

16. 一 日，八戒当筵宣称：“承蒙国王厚待，小僧何幸到此，只是留宫日子多了，累得师傅及两个师兄旅邸久矣，误了西天取书不好，即今就要告辞，异日再来讨扰，今见 肚中黄金膨涨，愿一吐所有，以尽报答之忱。”言罢命内侍取过盆来，八戒当场吐金满盆，光耀夺目，殿上众臣个个啧啧称异！

One day, in the midst of a feast Bajie proclaimed, “I am indebted to your royal highness for all of your fine treatment, a little monk like myself was really lucky to arrive at a place like this. However, I feel that I have spent too many days in your palace, forcing my master and two brother monks to spend a long while in their lodging-house. It would be a shame to neglect the task of going to the Western Heavens to retrieve the Celestial Tome, so today I must bid you farewell, and trespass upon your hospitality another day! My gut is positively bursting with gold, hope only that I can spit it all out, to repay your kindness to the utmost.” When he was finished speaking, Bajie ordered the servants to carry over a basin, whereupon he spat up gold, filling it. The glittering metal dazzled the eyes of the gathered officials in the great hall, who murmured in approval.

17. 八戒辞出宫门，国王降旨赠送纸币无数，一路上杠的杠，抬的抬，护送八戒回去，八戒引众见了三藏，备说经过，三藏道：“你要来这许多纸币，见得如此笨重，又怎样带去西天路上呢？”沙和尚也说道：“我也担不动这些斤俩啊！”

As Bajie took his leave of the palace, the king issued an imperial edict gifting Bajie with countless amounts of paper money, shouldered and portered the whole way back. When Tripitaka and the others saw him, he was scolded, with Tripitaka saying, “Asking for so much paper money it looks like you’ve ended up with a rather heavy and unwieldy load. How can you possibly carry it all to the Western Paradise?” To which Brother Sand added, saying, “And I certainly can’t carry all those extra pounds, either!”

18. 八戒道：“不要吵！不要吵！我自有追本还原之术，管教它变成有用之物就是了！”言罢口吐

磷火熊熊，尽把一堆纸币烧化了，却现出一个“万有百宝金碧活葫芦”，不觉毕大欢喜。

Bajie said, “Quit your yapping! Quit your yapping! I know the technique of Returning to Origins, with which I can guarantee that it will be transformed into something useful!” With that he spat out a plume of phosphorescent flames, igniting the pile of paper money. From the flames a “Living Gourd of Ten Thousand Treasures” emerged, pleasing them all.

19. 离 纸币国六千里，有个埃秦古国，统治者法老始皇，不用说他那万世一系的精神，威震四疆，他平时养着一头毛尖鹰，朝夕侍立在他的肩膀上，颇能帮助他运筹决策。 法老始皇的丰功伟业，还有一座万年长城，雄峙边陲，四邻莫敢侵犯，不过究竟因为年代太久了，不免有些颓废坏的样子，法老始皇为巩固国防起见，特颁旨修理， 并策封其毛尖鹰为修城总监，着其驻守城池，即日动工兴筑，来完成山伟大事业。

Several thousand miles away from the Kingdom of Paper Money lay the ancient kingdom of Ey-qin, ruled by a Pharaoh. It goes without saying that the vitality of that age old system gripped the kingdom from border to border. The Pharaoh had a Crested Falcon which spent day and night perched on his shoulder, and would help him make decisions. Among the Pharaoh’s great undertakings was a Great Wall of a Thousand Li, fortifying the border so much so that none of the neighboring countries dared to invade. This was all well and good, except that with the passage of too many years a certain amount of deterioration was unavoidable, and so the Pharaoh decided to strengthen his national defenses. He issued an imperial edict to have the wall repaired, with the Crested Falcon in charge of the wall repairs, and to be charge of manning and protecting the wall as well. That very same day, the Falcon began construction on this massive undertaking.

20. 毛尖鹰奉命，即聚集“鸦鸦鸟”们四出张罗，抽调壮丁，设井筑牢，大事搜刮。一日边境探子报道：“今有唐三藏等一行四人过山，据说要往西天探取天书！”毛尖鹰道：“把那两个生得像人样子的拿下来问过明白。”探子得令，便布置陷井将唐僧沙和尚两个捉掳宫里去。

Acting under orders of the Pharaoh, the Crested Falcon gathered together the “Crow-crow Birds” to take care of various tasks, like transferring manpower, dig wells and build barracks, and general plundering. One day the border scouts came in to report, saying, “Today the monk Tripitaka and his four companions came over the mountain, it is said they are going to the Western Heaven to retrieve the celestial tome!” The Crested Falcon said, “Go grab those two who look like human beings to ask them to clear things up.” Upon receiving their orders the scouts set up a pitfall trap to capture Tripitaka and Brother Sand and take them into to the palace.

CONTINUED IN PART 3…