Abstract: China and UK are the typical civilized countries in the east and west. The similarities and differences of religious and cultural concepts between China and Britain have significant representation in the whole world. And the differences also have been transformed into the literary. Journey to the west and Pilgrim’s Progress are one of the most important masterpieces in the respective histories of the English and Chinese literary, these two novels have been written in different cultural background and different countries. 

Journey to the west reflects the prevailing religious Culture and religious thought. In this novel, Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, three cultures appear, reflect the social thought of confluence of three religions. According to its root, it must be influenced by political, economic and cultural implication. The novel’s playful mockery of religion is reflected in the unique religious beliefs and enlightenment of personal liberation in society at that time.

Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan is a landmark work in both Christian theology and English literature. It demonstrates that knowledge is gained through travel by portraying Christian and his companions who learnt from their mistakes on their journey. Since it has been published in 1678, it has been translated into different languages. It has influenced a lot of people all around the world.

This article will focus on different way to discuss the theme’s differences of two novels. 

Key words: Journey to the west ； Pilgrim's Progress； Theme

Contents

Abstract

中文摘要

Introduction-1

I.-The Brief Introduction of Two Novels-5

A.-Brief Introduction of Wu Chengen and Journey to the west-5

B.-Brief Introduction of John Bunyan and Pilgrim's progress-6

II.-Comparison of the Themes of the Two Novels-9

A.-Theme of Journey to the west-9

1.-Journey to the west in the Religious Culture-9

2.-Journey to the west Reflected in Religious Thought-10

B.-Theme of Pilgrim’s Progress-11

1.-The Cost of Salvation-11

2.-The Religion Color of the Names and Place Names-13

III.-Reasons of the Difference between the Two Themes-15

A.-Historical Roots-15

B.-Traditional Cultural Roots-16

Conclusion-19

Bibliography-21

Acknowledgements-23