Man's Handmade 'Journey to the West' Theme Park in Sichuan Wins Over Holiday Crowds

The Monkey King looks half-starved, the fox spirit has deliberately clumsy hands, and the Water Curtain Cave resembles a stone wall in a farmer's backyard. Chinese netizens call the place "so ugly it makes you cry," then add that it is a lot of fun.

The Yi Xiyou Park, a folk theme park built around the classic novel "Journey to the West," sits in a valley in Bailong Village, Sichuan Province. During the National Day holiday in early October, it became a trending topic online, with one visitor joking about giving up a Disney ticket to play there instead.

Cover News reporters who visited on October 9, two days after the holiday ended, were greeted at the gate by an elderly man dressed as a little demon, shaking a bell. Visitors were still driving in from elsewhere to see the park.

According to the Sichuan-based outlet, more than 1,000 people a day have been coming to the park, and many have shared photos and videos online. At the peak of the holiday, He Changlin, the park's builder, said the line of cars heading into the hills stretched 2 kilometers.

Unlike polished commercial attractions, nearly everything here was made by hand by He, 58, who has worked in landscaping for more than 30 years. He shaped the scenery from the existing rocks and terrain rather than flattening the hillside. A protruding rock by a pond became a huge bull's head, the Bull Demon King's cave.

One feature came from a visitor. A woman told He that a rock by the water looked like a frog. He went to look, found a stone poking out of a mound of earth, and spent half a month digging out what is now a giant golden toad.

He does not mind the jokes about his statues. He told Cover News the ugliness is intentional, meant to "encourage people who have lost heart." His figures also carry his own reading of the novel: The Bull Demon King, Princess Iron Fan and their son Red Boy stand apart, with the princess looking sorrowful, to show the value of a harmonious family. The fox spirit has a graceful body but crude hands, a hint at the damage a third party does to a marriage.

He compares the park to a durian. "Those who like it are moved by the feeling behind it. Those who don't can complain that it's ugly," he said. "Each takes what they want."

He first came across the hillside about 16 years ago and, struck by its natural rock formations, leased it without telling his family. He only meant to open a farm restaurant, but as a "Journey to the West" fan he gradually decided to build a theme park.

"For the first 10 years I held three jobs at once," he said. He took on greening and landscaping contracts elsewhere, put the money into the hill, then went back to earn more. In all, he has invested nearly 20 million yuan (US$2.8 million), almost all his savings. In the hardest times, he said, he carried a little cornmeal up the hill each day, got by on three steamed buns, and wore hand-me-down clothes from relatives and friends.

His wife, Li Shiqiong, strongly opposed the project, and the couple argued about it to the point of discussing divorce. "I didn't support him at all," she said. "We had a good life, and he insisted on going off to suffer in the wild hills." The family's savings all went into the park, she said, and their daughter has backed him throughout.

He kept the park closed until 2022, when he felt the attractions finally "looked like something." Only this holiday's surge in visitors brought a steady income, and the family has started paying off its debts.

Admission is 20 yuan, and anyone under 20 gets in free. Parking is free, and the park sells nothing beyond bottled water and a few packs of instant noodles. "There is no secondary spending," He said, calling it a firm rule. For 16 years, the park has run mostly on his landscaping income plus an orchard and fish ponds on the site.

For the holiday, he invited local folk performers to dress as characters from the novel and interact with visitors. Many guests sought him out to thank him after their visit, which he said means far more to him than ticket money.

As reporters looked on, a group of young visitors held up their ID cards to show they were under 20. He waved them through. "No need to look, no need to look. Just go in," he said.

He said he never built the park to make money. "If things run smoothly in another two or three years, I plan to extend free entry to everyone under 40."