Liusha River (fictional river)

The Liusha River (Chinese: 流沙河), also translated into English as River of Flowing Sands[1] or Flowing-Sand River[2] is a fictional river from the Chinese novel entitled Journey to the West. [3] The river is found in the twenty-second episode of Journey to the West. [4][5] The prototype of Liusha River in the novel is the present Kaidu River in Xinjiang.[6]

Flowing-Sand River
Native name流沙河
Physical characteristics
Length10, 000 Chinese miles
Width 
 • maximum800 Chinese miles

The river was the last recognizable landmark in China for Sun Wukong and the other pilgrims journeying to India in Wu Chengen's Journey to the West. [7] The twenty-second episode of the novel describes,[8]

Liusha River is 800 li wide, (八百流沙界)
and its water is swift and extremely dangerous. (三千弱水深)
On the Liusha River, the goose feathers will not float, (鹅毛飘不起)
and the reed flowers will sink to the bottom of the river. (芦花定底沉)

Flowing-Sand River is ten thousand li long and eight hundred li wide.[9] The master of the river is Sha Wujing, who used to be the Curtain-Rolling General (卷帘大将) of the Jade Emperor in the Heavenly Palace (天宫),[10] but was later expelled to the secular world because of breaking the Glass Cup (玻璃盏) by mistake at the Flat Peach Meeting (蟠桃会), [11] thus violating the Laws of Heaven (天条),[12] and became a water monster in the Liusha River.[13] Later, Guanyin enlightened him. Then he waited in the Liusha River for the sutra-seekers (取经人) to come to accept him as a disciple. [14] Later, he converted to Buddhism and became the third apprentice of Tang Seng.

See also

References
  1. Wu Ch'êng-ên (1 December 2007). Monkey: Folk Novel of China. Grove Atlantic. pp. 163–. ISBN 978-0-8021-9884-6.
  2. Anthony C. Yu (5 April 2013). The Journey to the West, Revised Edition. University of Chicago Press. pp. 432–. ISBN 978-0-226-97140-7.
  3. Research on Ancient Chinese Novels, Volume 1. People's Literature Publishing House. 2005. pp. 254–. ISBN 978-7-02-004983-7.
  4. "Traveling on the Silk Road with Journey to the West". Xinhua News Agency. 2016-03-22.
  5. "Where are the magical places in "Journey to the West"?". Duowei News. 2015-06-26.
  6. Muqi Che (1989). The Silk Road, Past and Present. Foreign Languages Press. pp. 201–. ISBN 978-0-8351-2100-2.
  7. Ann Elizabeth Barrott Wicks (1998). Painting Paradise: The Art of Ting Shao Kuang. China Books & Periodicals. pp. 24–.
  8. Wu Cheng'en (2003). Four Great Classics/Volume One/Journey to the West. Jinghua Publishing House. ISBN 978-7-80600-111-0.
  9. Cheng Jun Yi (2004). Sun Wukong is a Good Employee: 28 Professional Proverbs from the Journey to the West. CITIC Press. pp. 117–. ISBN 978-7-5086-0263-9.}
  10. Edward Theodore Chalmers Werner (1956). Myths and Legends of China. Library of Alexandria. pp. 277–. ISBN 978-1-4655-8092-4.
  11. Wu Cheng'en; Li Zhuowu (1 June 2006). Li Zhuowu Criticism of the Journey to the West. Yuelu Publishing House. pp. 907–. ISBN 978-7-80665-728-7.
  12. Kuang Chen; Pan Liang (2006). Our 1980s. China Friendship Publishing Company. pp. 166–. ISBN 978-7-5057-2274-3.
  13. "Why did Sha Wujing wear a necklace with nine skulls?". China Times. 2015-06-07.
  14. Cheng Fan (1 January 2011). Four Masterpieces of Chinese Classical Literature: Children's Edition. Jilin Publishing Group Co., Ltd. pp. 10–. ISBN 978-7-5463-4555-0.
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