Journey to the West , also known as Monkey, is the most popular comic novel in Chinese literature. It is considered one of the four classics of the Chinese literary tradition. The other three works are Dream of the Red Chamber, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and Water Margin. Journey to the West mixes humor, fantasy, and satire as it tells the story of a Buddhist monk and his four magical helpers. They travel from China to India seeking scrolls that contain sacred scriptures.
The novel was written in the 1500’s and attributed to a writer and minor government official named Wu Cheng’en. He based his novel on an actual pilgrimage by the monk Xuanzang (also known as Tripitaka) during the 600’s. Xuanzang traveled westward to India to obtain Buddhist scriptures. The story had been a part of Chinese folklore for centuries.
One of Xuanzang’s helpers is Sun Wukong, a mischievous monkey who is one of the most popular comic creations in Chinese fiction. The monkey’s adventures have been retold in many entertainment forms, including opera, plays, puppet theater, and motion pictures. The second helper is the lazy glutton Zhu Bajie, or Pigsy. He is a half-human, half-pig creature who is also a popular comic character in China. The third helper is the loyal and kind-hearted Sand Monk, or Sandy. A fourth helper, known only as the dragon-horse, also aids Xuanzang. After 81 adventures told in 100 chapters, Xuanzang and his followers finally obtain the scriptures.
In addition to its comedy, Journey to the West is noted for its satire of Chinese society and government bureaucracy. It is also rooted in Chinese folk religion, Chinese mythology, and Taoist and Buddhist philosophy. In addition, the novel is an extended allegory, with Xuanzang and his companions symbolizing a group of pilgrims journeying toward spiritual enlightenment. The earliest known edition of Hsi-yu chi, as the novel is called in Chinese, was published in 1592. The novel is widely known in the West in an abridged English translation called Monkey (1942) by the English scholar Arthur Waley. The first complete translation, by Anthony C. Yu, was published in four volumes from 1977 to 1983.
