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Archive #11 – PDFs of the Journey to the West 2012 Revised Edition

Jim R. McClanahan 19 Comments

Note: My blog is not monetized, so I am not making any money from this post. My hope is that these PDFs will make this legendary story more accessible to a wider audience. If you enjoyed the digital version, please, please, please support the official release.

Last updated: 04-06-2026

Here I present PDFs comprising the complete four volume 2012 revised edition of The Journey to the West (Xiyouji, 西遊記) translated by Anthony C. Yu (October 6, 1938 – May 12, 2015). This is considered THE most accurate translation of the tale available. I hope those who read and enjoy the digital version will support the official release.

Yu was Carl Darling Buck Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus in the Humanities and Professor Emeritus of Religion and Literature in the Chicago Divinity School. I shared a long email correspondence with Prof. Yu, during which we became friends. He was always quick to answer my many questions. His translation remains a treasure trove of explanatory notes and sources.

Table of Contents

1. Book Blurb

Anthony C. Yu’s translation of The Journey to the West, initially published in 1983, introduced English-speaking audiences to the classic Chinese novel in its entirety for the first time […] With over a hundred chapters written in both prose and poetry, The Journey to the West has always been a complicated and difficult text to render in English while preserving the lyricism of its language and the content of its plot. But Yu has successfully taken on the task, and in this new edition he has made his translations even more accurate and accessible. The explanatory notes are updated and augmented, and Yu has added new material to his introduction, based on his original research as well as on the newest literary criticism and scholarship on Chinese religious traditions. He has also modernized the transliterations included in each volume, using the now-standard Hanyu Pinyin romanization system. Perhaps most important, Yu has made changes to the translation itself in order to make it as precise as possible (source).

2. PDF Files

Vol. 1

Click to access the-journey-to-the-west-wu-chengen_-anthony-c.-yu-the-journey-to-the-west-volume-1-university-of-chicago-press-2013.pdf

Vol. 2

Click to access the-journey-to-the-west-2012-volume-2.pdf

Vol. 3

Click to access the-journey-to-the-west-2012-volume-3.pdf

Vol. 4

Click to access the-journey-to-the-west-2012-volume-4.pdf

The cover of volume one (larger version).

3. Updates

Update: 03-01-22

I’ve archived a scan of the original Chinese version of the 1592 edition of the novel.

Archive #31 – The Original 1592 Edition of Journey to the West, Complete with Pictures

 

Update: 07-26-23

I have archived the first complete 1835 Japanese translation of JTTW. It includes amazing woodblock prints.

Archive #41 – PDFs of The Illustrated Journey to the West (Ehon Saiyuki, 繪本西遊記, 1835) – The First Complete Japanese Translation

Update: 08-09-23

I have archived a list of other foreign language translations of Journey to the West, including complete and abridged editions.

  • English (W. J. F. Jenner and Arthur Waley)
  • French
  • German
  • Hungarian
  • Italian
  • Romanian
  • Russian
  • Spanish
  • Thai
  • Turkish
  • Vietnamese

Archive #42 – PDFs of Journey to the West Translations

Update: 04-06-26

See my archives of other translations.