Journey to the West (1986 CCTV Edition)
Directed by Yang Jie and starring Liu Xiao Ling Tong as Sun Wukong, this 25-episode mythological epic is the most influential adaptation of Journey to the West in the Chinese-speaking world.
Journey to the West is a 25-episode television series first broadcast by China Central Television in 1986. Directed and chief-written by Yang Jie, the screenplay was co-adapted by Dai Yinglu and Zou Yiqing. Production began in July 1982, but due to funding shortages and technical limitations, it took six years to complete all twenty-five episodes, filmed using only a single Sony BVP-300 camera. Liu Xiao Ling Tong played Sun Wukong, while Chi Chongrui succeeded Wang Yue and Xu Shaohua in the role of Tang Sanzang. Ma Dehua portrayed Zhu Bajie, and Yan Huaili played Sha Wujing. The series remains faithful to the framework of the original hundred-chapter novel, condensing the pilgrimage into twenty-five story arcs, accompanied by classic scores composed by Xu Jingqing, such as "Where is the Road" and "Cloud Palace Sound." Following its 1986 premiere, the show sparked an unprecedented sensation; it has since been rebroadcast over three thousand times, becoming one of the most frequently repeated series in the history of Chinese television. In 2000, the original cast and crew returned to produce a 16-episode sequel, Journey to the West: The Sequel, which completed chapters left unfilmed in the original work. This cemented the 1986 version's status as the unshakable "definitive edition" in the hearts of generations of viewers across the Chinese-speaking world.