'Journey to the West' puppet show captivates New Zealand students

The puppet show Three Times Beating Baigujing, an excerpt from the Chinese classic novel Journey to the West, enthralled students in New Zealand during a recent tour showcasing Chinese cultural heritage.

Baigujing is a shape-shifting demon from Journey to the West, one of the four great classic novels of Chinese literature. In her true form, she is a skeleton. She planned to eat the flesh of the Buddhist monk Xuanzang, so she disguised herself as a village girl and offered Xuanzang and his disciples some poisonous fruits. The Monkey King realized that she was a demon and hit her with his golden cudgel in order to kill her.