Shuilian Cave literally meaning Water Curtain Cave, is an area featured within the famed Chinese novel Journey to the West

Journey to the West

Journey to the West is one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature. It was written by Wu Cheng'en in the 16th century. In English-speaking countries, the tale is also often known simply as Monkey. This was one title used for a popular, abridged translation by Arthur Waley...

. Shuilian Cave had been featured since the first chapter of this novel. Very early on, Sun Wukong

Sun Wukong

Sun Wukong , also known as the Monkey King is a main character in the classical Chinese epic novel Journey to the West . In the novel, he is a monkey born from a stone who acquires supernatural powers through Taoist practices...

 would become the king of this cave and it would generally be used for all the monkeys to train within and generally rest. Before such an event, Wukong, with his bravery, nominated himself to be the monkey that would rush through the Mount Huaguo

Mount Huaguo

Mount Huaguo , literally meaning Mount of Flowers and Fruit, is a major area featured in the famed ancient Chinese novel Journey to the West....

's great waterfall

Waterfall

A waterfall is a place where flowing water rapidly drops in elevation as it flows over a steep region or a cliff.-Formation:Waterfalls are commonly formed when a river is young. At these times the channel is often narrow and deep. When the river courses over resistant bedrock, erosion happens...

 in order to see what was behind it. He discovered

Emerald moss piled up in heaps of blue,

White clouds like drifting jade,

While the light flickered among wisps of coloured mist.

A quiet house with peaceful windows,

Flowers growing on the smooth bench;

Dragon pearls hanging in niches,

Exotic blooms all around.

Traces of fire beside the stove,

Scraps of food in the vessels by the table.

Adorable stone chairs and beds,

Even better stone plates and bowls.

One or two tall bamboos,

Three or four sprigs of plum blossom,

A few pines that always attract rain,

All just like a real home.

Following this, Wukong

took a good, long look and then scampered to the middle of the bridge, from where he noticed a stone tablet. On the tablet had been carved in big square letters: HAPPY LAND OF THE MOUNTAIN OF FLOWERS AND FRUIT, CAVE HEAVEN OF THE WATER CURTAIN (Chinese

Chinese character

Chinese characters are logograms used in the writing of Chinese and Japanese , less frequently Korean , formerly Vietnamese , or other languages...

: 花果山福地、水帘洞洞天). The stone monkey was beside himself with glee. He rushed away, shut his eyes, crouched, and leapt back through the waterfall.

After many points following this, Sun Wukong would return to the Water Curtain Cave for miscellaneous reasons either while returning from his celestial master, or from an issue with his enlightened master, Sanzang.