The Spread and Reception of Journey to the West Stories in the United States--An Analysis on The New York Times's Reports

Abstract

Based on the analysis on the reports (1930~2015) about Monkey King or The Journey to the West issued in The New York Times, this article presents the important functions of the international mainstream media in publicizing The Monkey King story to the Western readers from the perspective of communication studies by analyzing the amount and the contents of the reports, as well as the identities of the reporters. Studies show that New York Times has been providing numerous articles for acquainting the readers with Monkey King story from brief introductions to various English translations, to the reproduction of the image of Monkey King in American literature, and numerous kinds of the story in other artistic forms. The exploration of the different aspects of the reports about the Monkey King in the media in different times will offer some help for the dissemination and reception of classical Chinese literature in foreign countries and serve as an effective strategy for “Chinese Culture’s Going Out”.