88 Part II: Outsiders
Buddha, and it was not uncommon for debates to rage among different sects.
Travel to India and to the source of Buddhism, some thought, was the only way
to finally resolve these disputes. Xuanzang hoped to access the purest source of
Buddhist knowledge and wisdom, and so he set out on what became known as
the “Journey to the West” in the imagination of delighted Chinese readers for
centuries to come.
At the end of the sixteenth century, a novelized version of Xuanzang’s jour-
ney was published full of magical beasts, meetings with deities, miraculous
feats, romantic encounters, and a constant patter of humor from his monkey
and pig companions. Both Polo and Xuanzang, from west and east, traveled
into Central Asia and regions little known to their respective home cultures,
and so their stories were told with great license and fabrication, leaving a last-
ing impact on views of the region, even after it was clearly mapped and its cul-
tures documented and well-known.
In the final years of the thirteenth century, a long conflict between Venice
and Genoa led to the capture of Marco Polo. During his imprisonment, Polo
recounted a fantastical story of travels to Yuan China to his cellmate, Rus-
tichello da Pisa. Rustichello’s experience in writing historical adventures and
romances blended with Polo’s account of his travels and resulted in The Travels
of Marco Polo, which awed and informed Western audiences for centuries to
come. Polo had traveled across the Eurasian landmass and arrived in the impe-
rial court of the Kublai Khan (1215–1294), where he served the khan for many
years and returned to Venice over two decades later.Box 3.1 Journey to the WestWu Cheng’en’s Journey to the West, ostensibly a story of a historical Buddhist
monk’s pilgrimage from Tang China to India, has delighted audiences since its publi-
cation in the end of the sixteenth century. Countless films, television series, comic
books, and other rollicking adaptations have made the story even more thrilling. But
the original is already a fast-moving account, even in four volumes and 100 chapters.
In one typical episode, the reader is riveted by a high-flying scene of supernatural
combat by the travelers, with Xuanzang referred to here as Tripitaka:
Suddenly a monster of horrifying aspect came surging through the mountainous
waves. His hair was flaming red; his eyes were like two lanterns; at his neck were
strung nine skulls, and he carried a huge priest’s-staff. Like a whirlwind he rushed
straight at the pilgrims. Monkey seized Tripitaka and hurried him up the bank to a
safe distance. Pigsy dropped his load and rushed at the monster with his rake.
The monster fended off the blow with his priest’s-staff. The fight that followed was
a good one, each displaying his powers on the shores of the River of Flowing
Sands. They fought twenty bouts without reaching a decision. Monkey, seeing
the grand fight that was in progress, itched to go and join in it.... Tripitaka did
his best to dissuade him. But Monkey with a wild whoop leapt into the fray. At this
moment the two of them were locked in combat, and it was hard to get between