Wu Cheng'en (redirected from Wú Chéngen)

Wu Cheng'en

 or Wu Ch'eng-en

(born c. 1500, Shanyang, Huaian, China—died c. 1582, Huaian) Chinese novelist and poet. He received a traditional Confucian education and became known for his clever poetry and prose composition in the classical style. Interested in bizarre stories, he used oral and written folktales as the basis of the novel Xiyouji (Journey to the West, also partially translated as Monkey), published anonymously in 1592. It relates the comic mishaps and adventures of the 7th-century monk Xuanzang, who traveled to India looking for sacred texts, and his entourage of three animal spirits: a monkey, a pig, and a fish. It satirizes Chinese society and government and contains religious and philosophical elements drawn from Buddhism, Daoism, and Neo-Confucianism. Only two volumes of his other writings have survived.