My Journey to the West was written by Shuyi Hu, a Columbia University graduated educator and writer who lived through the era of the Republic of China. Originally written for Shanghai newspapers and magazines, My Journey to the West was a collection of articles about Shuyi's postwar trips to Europe and the US. The book was published by Zhong Zheng Publishing House in 1948. Due to its popularity, Shuyi planned to continue with a sequel. However, he was unable to write again after 1949 when China entered a new regime of communism.
The 1948's print was published in traditional Chinese characters and its foreword was written by renowned Chinese educator Junsheng Wu. This reprint includes some of the precious photos of Hu Shuyi and his family from 1930 to 1940 for the first time. It also included an article by Hu Shuyi's granddaughter Sonia Hu that was published in Taiwan's "Biographical Literature" in 2018. Sonia also wrote the foreword for this reprint regarding the story behind this book and her grandfather.