You know, I wish I could say that this knowledge of Chinese philosophers, which included Mencius, Sun Zi, Lie Zi and books like the Journey to the West and Madam White Snake were from me reading these books in their original language.

LOL NOPE. I got them from COMICS TRANSLATED TO ENGLISH.

Specifically, this cartoonist, Tsai Chih Chung: https://www.amazon.com/Books-Tsai-Chih-Chung/s?ie=UTF8&page=1&rh=n%3A283155%2Cp_27%3ATsai%20Chih%20Chung

It's great. I have all these random anecdotes now.