Quick Facts
Wade-Giles romanization:
Wu Ch’eng-en
Born:
c. 1500, Shanyang, Huai’an [now in Jiangsu province], China
Died:
c. 1582, Huai’an

Wu Cheng’en (born c. 1500, Shanyang, Huai’an [now in Jiangsu province], China—died c. 1582, Huai’an) was a novelist and poet of the Ming dynasty (1368–1644), generally acknowledged as the author of the Chinese folk novel Xiyouji (Journey to the West, also partially translated as Monkey).

Wu received a traditional Confucian education and was appointed a resident scholar at the imperial university in Nanjing in 1544. From 1546 to 1552 Wu lived in Beijing, where he was a member of a small literary circle and became known for his cleverness in the composition of poetry and prose in the classical style. He later traveled extensively before settling back in Huai’an in 1570. Throughout his life he displayed a marked interest in bizarre stories, such as the set of oral and written folktales that formed the basis of Xiyouji.

In its 100 chapters Xiyouji details the adventures of a cunningly resourceful monkey who accompanies the Buddhist priest Xuanzang on a journey to India. One of the most popular Chinese folk novels, Xiyouji is notable for its multiple rhetorical styles that reflect the dialects and regional cultural idiosyncrasies that Xuanzang and the monkey encounter on their journey. The local colour gives added weight to the cutting satire of Chinese culture found throughout the work. Like all novels of its time, Xiyouji was written in the vernacular, as opposed to the officially accepted classical style, and therefore had to be published anonymously to protect the author’s reputation. As a result, the identity of the novelist was long unknown outside of Wu’s native district.

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Only two volumes of Wu’s other writings have survived; these were discovered in the imperial palaces and were reprinted in 1930.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Encyclopaedia Britannica.

Journey to the West

novel by Wu Cheng’en
Also known as: “Hsi-yu chi”, “Xiyouji”
Chinese (Pinyin):
Xiyouji or
(Wade-Giles romanization):
Hsi-yu chi

Journey to the West, foremost Chinese comic novel, written by Wu Cheng’en, a novelist and poet of the Ming dynasty (1368–1644). The novel is based on the actual 7th-century pilgrimage of the Buddhist monk Xuanzang (602–664) to India in search of sacred texts. The story itself was already a part of Chinese folk and literary tradition in the form of colloquial stories, a poetic novelette, and a six-part drama when Wu Cheng’en formed it into his long and richly humorous novel.

Composed of 100 chapters, the novel can be divided into three major sections. The first seven chapters deal with the birth of a monkey from a stone egg and its acquisition of magic powers. Five chapters relate the story of Xuanzang, known as Tripitaka, and the origin of his mission to the Western Paradise. The bulk of the novel recounts the 81 adventures that befall Tripitaka and his entourage of three animal spirits—the magically gifted Monkey, the slow-witted and clumsy Pigsy, and the fish spirit Sandy—on their journey to India and culminates in their attainment of the sacred scrolls.

In addition to the novel’s comedy and adventure, Journey to the West has been enjoyed for its biting satire of society and Chinese bureaucracy and for its allegorical presentation of human striving and perseverance. An English translation by Arthur Waley entitled Monkey was published in 1942 and reprinted many times. A new translation by Anthony C. Yu, A Journey to the West (4 vol.), was published in 1977–83.

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The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica This article was most recently revised and updated by Adam Augustyn.