Journey to the West

Published in 1592 during the Ming dynasty and usually attributed to Wu Cheng’en, this 100-chapter novel is one of the four great classical novels of Chinese literature. It grew out of centuries of storytelling around a real event: the 7th-century pilgrimage of the monk Xuanzang, who walked to India to bring back Buddhist scriptures. In the novel the timid monk Tang Sanzang is guarded by Sun Wukong, the Monkey King, a stone-born trickster who can ride the clouds and change into 72 forms, after he has been punished for causing havoc in Heaven. With Zhu Bajie (Pigsy), Sha Wujing (Sandy) and a dragon turned white horse, they survive 81 ordeals full of demons before reaching the Buddha’s land. Mixing adventure, comedy and Buddhist and Taoist ideas, the story is everywhere in China today, from Peking opera and cartoons to films and video games.