The movie tells the story of a 7th century A. D. Chinese scholar who travels all the way from China to India, all alone, on foot; crossing deserts and mountains and forests and rivers; sometimes helped, sometimes hampered by those he meets on the way. He makes it, at last. Needless to say, in his arduous and perilous journey he meets unnameable challenges. Nonetheless, something drives him on and on. What is it? The thirst for knowledge.

Most of us have never felt this thirst. Living in the digital world, where all knowledge is just a few touches away on the smartphone, we are still ignorant fools. All we have are titbits of information, picked up from random YouTubers and bloggers.

Xuan Zang is a wake-up call, a call for our slumbering spirit of inquiry.