Since Chen Yi was transferred to the central government in 1954, especially after he concurrently served as Foreign Minister in 1958, he has made frequent visits to various parts of the world. He adhered to the instructions of Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai and did amazing work to open up China's diplomatic situation, enhance China's friendship with the people of the world, and promote the formation of an international united front against imperialism, anti-colonialism, and anti-hegemony. A large part of his poetry reflects this theme, among which "Journey to the Six Kingdoms" can be said to be a masterpiece in this aspect.
In the spring of 1964, Chen Yi visited 14 countries in Asia and Africa. In the autumn of 1964, he began a tour of six countries. From the end of October to the beginning of November, Chen Yi led a government delegation to participate in the tenth anniversary celebration of the Algerian revolutionary uprising, passing through Pakistan, the United Arab Emirates and Myanmar. After returning to Beijing, we only stopped for one night and then set off to Cambodia to celebrate Independence Day. Four days after returning to Beijing, he was invited to visit Indonesia. At that time, when he went to Cambodia for a celebration, American planes were bombarding the Ho Chi Minh Trail every day, and Chen Yi's special plane decided to fly over the Ho Chi Minh Trail. That day, the American planes dodged and dodged, but Chen Yi sat calmly and played Go. He even said half-jokingly: There were American planes escorting him. From this, the dangers of the six-nation trip and the general aura of Marshal Chen Yi were evident.
The five-character poem "Journey to the Six Kingdoms" was written during this visit abroad. During two visits in spring and autumn, Chen Yi wrote more than a dozen poems. After returning from a trip to China, at the Third National People's Congress, Chen Yi was asked about his recent works by Mao Zedong. In the spring of 1965, Chen Yi presented seven poems from "Journey to the Six Nations" to Mao Zedong. Mao Zedong revised the first poem and added a title: Head west. In his reply, he also praised Chen Yi's poems for their majesty. This is a vivid reflection of the close friendship and poetic exchange between Mao Zedong and Chen Yi. On National Day in 1957, on the Tiananmen Gate Tower, Mao Zedong and Chen Yi talked about poetry and said that Chen Yi's poems had a poetic flavor. Later, they talked about poetry many times. In 1965, Mao Zedong wrote a letter about poetry, poetry criticism and poetry revision, which further illustrates their close friendship in poetry.
Chen Yi’s journey to the west was already majestic, and coupled with Mao Zedong’s splendid strokes of flying like a bird and connecting with thousands of bells, wine and green onions, it became even more heroic. The poem also has unusual significance because it was revised by Mao Zedong himself.
Today's "Journey to the West" is no longer just written by Chen Yi. This poem was co-created by him and Mao Zedong, and is the result of their cooperation. Mao Zedong expressed that it was very difficult for him to revise his poems, because Chen Yi had already written the poems very well and it was difficult to start revising them. That is why Mao Zedong was no longer willing to revise Chen Yi after revising "Journey to the West".