Jeff Pepper - Trouble in Heaven

Trouble in Heaven A Story in Simplified Chinese and Pinyin, 600 Word Vocabulary Level Book 2 of the Journey to the West Series Written by Jeff Pepper Chinese Translation by Xiao Hui Wang This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, organizations, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the authors imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. Copyright 2017-2022 by Imagin8 Press LLC, all rights reserved. Published in the United States by Imagin8 Press LLC, Verona, Pennsylvania, US. For information, contact us via email at info@imagin8press.com or visit www.imagin8press.com.

Our books may be purchased directly in quantity at a reduced price, visit our website www.imagin8press.com for details. Imagin8 Press, the Imagin8 logo and the sail image are all trademarks of Imagin8 Press LLC. Written by Jeff Pepper Chinese translation by Xiao Hui Wang Cover design by Katelyn Pepper and Jeff Pepper Book design by Jeff Pepper Artwork by Next Mars Media, Luoyang, China Audiobook narration by Junyou Chen Based on the original 16th century Chinese novel by Wu Chengen, and the unabridged four-volume translation by Anthony C. Yu, University of Chicago Press, 2012 (revised edition) ISBN: 978-1732063877 Version 206

W e are deeply indebted to the late Anthony C. Yu for his incredible four-volume translation, The Journey to the West (University of Chicago Press, 1983, revised 2012). We have also referred frequently to William J.F.

Jenners unabridged translation, The Journey to the West (1955 by Collinson Fair, 2005 by Silk Pagoda), as well as the original Chinese novel by Wu Chengen (Peoples Literature Publishing House, Beijing, 1955). Weve also gathered valuable background material from Jim R. McClanahans Journey to the West Research Blog (www.journeytothewestresearch.com). As always, many thanks to the team at Next Mars Media for their terrific illustrations, and Junyou Chen for his wonderful audiobook narration.

A complete Chinese language audio version of this book is available free of charge. To access it, go to YouTube.com and search for the Imagin8 Press channel.

There you will find free audiobooks for this and all the other books in this series. You can also visit our website, www.imagin8press.com, to find a direct link to the YouTube audiobook, as well as information about our other books.

S un Wukong, the Handsome Monkey King, is one of the most famous figures in Chinese literature. He is one of the main characters in Journey to the West (, x yu j), an epic novel written in the 16th Century by Wu Chengen. Journey to the West is loosely based on an actual journey by the Buddhist monk Xuanzang, who traveled from the Chinese city of Changan westward to India in 629 A.D. and returned 17 years later with priceless knowledge and texts of Buddhism.

Over the course of the book Xuanzang and his companions face the 81 tribulations that Xuanzang had to endure to attain Buddhahood. Each book in our Journey to the West series covers a short section of this epic story. In our first story, The Rise of the Monkey King , we introduced Sun Wukong and covered the events in the first two chapters: we learned how the little stone monkey was born, became king of his troop of monkeys, left his home to pursue enlightenment, received the name Sun Wukong (literally, ape seeking the void) from his teacher, and returned home to defend his subjects from a ravenous monster. In this book, the second story in the series, we cover the events of chapters 3 and 4 in the original epic. Things begin to unravel for Sun Wukong, as he starts to see the consequences of his outrageous actions. While trying to defend his troop of monkeys, he manages to offend the underwater Dragon King, the Dragon Kings mother, all ten Kings of the Underworld, and the great Jade Emperor himself.

Finally, goaded by a couple of troublemaking demons, he goes too far, calling himself the Great Sage Equal to Heaven and setting events in motion that will cause him some serious trouble. These stories are all written in simple language suitable for beginning Chinese learners at the 600-word HSK3 level. Whenever we introduce a word or phrase that isnt part of HSK3 and was not already defined in Book 1, its defined in a footnote on the page where it first appears. In the main body of the book, each page of Chinese characters is matched with a facing page of pinyin. This is unusual for Chinese novels but we feel its important. By including the pinyin, as well as a full English version and glossary at the end, we hope that every reader, no matter what level of mastery they have of the Chinese language, will be able to understand and enjoy the story we tell here.

Please visit our website, www.imagin8press.com, which contains a link to the full (and free) audio recording of this book. You can also sign up to be notified about new books in this series as they become available. We hope you like this book, and wed love to hear from you! Write us at info@imagin8press.com. Jeff Pepper and Xiao Hui Wang Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA June 2017 Revised March 2022

W qn'i de hizi, yu sh ytin guq le, yu do le shujio de shhu le. Zutin wnshng w jing le Sn Wkng, nge Hu Wng de gsh. Zh zh huzi hnji yqin ji shnghu zi oli Gu de Hugu Shn.

W gosgu n, t sh znme chshng de, znme chngwi Hu Wng de, znme xuhu chngshng bs de, znme gn y g xing yo shnghi qt huzi de d yogui ddu de. Jntin wnshng w hu gos n t zi tingng l de jngl, t zi nl zho le hndu mfan. Yu de shhu zh zh huzi gi zj h qt rn zho le hndu de d mfan! N b hu wngj ba, w gosgu n, Hu Wng h y g yo gui d d le y chng. N chng zhndu d le hn chng shjin, d d hn nn hn nn. N c zhndu yhu, Hu Wng zhdo t bx zu zhndu de zhnbi, suy t ji kish jio qt de huzi znme ddu. Huzimen xuhu le znme q zhndu, dnsh yuytin, Sn Wkng xingdo, Rgu birn d wmen, wmen y xyo yu ho de wq.

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