Playing second fiddle to the Monkey King does not do this man justice
Most Chinese are familiar with the Tang dynasty (618 – 907) monk Xuanzang (玄奘) through his portrayal in the classic Ming dynasty (1368 – 1644) novel Journey to the West as a hapless and easily duped figure, perpetually in need of rescue by his disciple, the Monkey King. But that’s a harsh misconception of the man himself—a determined Buddhist monk who trekked from China to India nearly 1,500 years ago— who deserves to be recognized as one of China’s, if not the world’s, greatest ever wanderers.
He is not just a translator of Buddhist sutras who racked up a few miles on the job: in 19 years, Xuanzang covered an epic 250,000 kilometers across 110 countries and regions. He survived windswept deserts and snow-capped mountains, evaded bandits and murderous attacks, all the while scribbling down observations in his book, Great Tang Records on the Western Regions (《大唐西域记》).
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