Strange Events, Dunhuang Academy

When we went through the caves at Dunhuang, Bill told our guide that I knew a great deal about Journey to the West.

The next morning at 8am when I went back to see the caves for a second time, 30 Chinese guides had gathered to hear a lecture from the American expert on Journey to the West. I talked to them for an hour. During the question and answer period when one guide asked me, "What inspires you about the story Journey to the West?" I started to describe the very end and burst into tears. I and they were rather astonished. I hadn't realized what my inspiration was, as it keeps changing. Anyhow, that morning it was the moment when the priest thanks Monkey King for protecting and escorting him and bows to him and Monkey King replies, "No need. There's only one of us."

At the end of my "lecture", Zhang Yuanlin, the head of the library at Dunhuang Academy came dashing up and said, "I just heard that you were talking about Journey to the West. Send me your articles and we'll meet tonight."

We met that night at the academy and spoke for two hours during which time he asked me which of the 13 versions of Journey to the West I was using. I said, "Oh? 13 versions?" But once he acknowledged that the version I'm using is probably one of the best, we spoke more about interpretations of different chapters and realized we both have a similar unexplainable passion for the story. Bill and our guide did the interpreting for us.

Diane's "surprise" lecture with Dunhuang Guides

Diane and Zhang Yuanlin discuss Journey to the West
Bill and Serena help to translate

Below, caves at Yulin where Buddhists who did carvings and paintings lived in the Third and Fourth Century CE.