was on the right, thus forming a small park before the Star-Picking Belvedere. Fifty maidens and fifty eunuchs were chosen and tied together to form 50 pairs. Each individual pair would then get thrown into the pool and would be asked to drink the pool's wine while performing swimming tricks. Once each pair is readily drunk, they would be put into the Meat Forest to enjoy an abundance of cooked duck, roasted pig, etc. By sunset a few pairs would then be beaten to a bloody pulp and secretly fed to Daji to ease her need for human flesh. This method of torture, created by Daji, was first mentioned in Chapter 17, as well as multiple times afterward. The Deer Gallery The Deer Gallery is also mentioned in Chapter 17. Daji had chosen this Deer Gallery as an ensured way to put an end to Jiang Ziya, who had been entrusted to complete the impossible mission of creating the Deer Gallery itself. This large tower-like structure was forty-nine feet in height (double the size of the Star-Picking Belvedere), fully equipped with columns of jade, floors of marble, roofs and ceilings of legendary jewels, and railings of great pearls and sea corals. Criticism Although the novel is now seen as one of the towering works of Chinese literature, it was not always appreciated as such. In comparing the work to other Chinese novels of the past, Lu Xun remarked in his 1924 book A Brief History of Chinese Fiction that Fengshen Yanyi "lacks the realism of Water Margin and the imaginative brilliance of Journey to the West." Translations This is an abridged translation containing only the first 46 chapters out of 100. The book was also translated to Dutch as Feng Shen: De Verheffing tot Goden by Nio Joe Lan (Jakarta, 1940). Adaptations The novel has a significant impact on Chinese and Japanese popular culture. It has been adapted in various forms, including television series, manhua, manga, and video games. Some of the more notable adaptations are listed below: Unabridged 1970 Pingshu radio program by Yuan Kuocheng, consisting of the entire Fēngshén Yǎnyì in 200 episodes. The Story of Chinese Gods, a 1976 hand-drawn animated film. God's Parade, a 1981 TVB TV series which has a song performed by Adam Cheng. The Founding of the Zhou Dynasty, the first story arc of the Hong Kong manhua series Legend of Emperors by