Background

Written by Wu Cheng'en (d. 1582), this very popular novel is based on the history of a Buddhist monk named Xuanzang traveling to India to bring Buddhist sutras back to China. But this simple history is ornamented with many popular stories and theatre plays like the rebellion of the monkey Sun Wukong, being subjugated by Buddha and forced to assist Xuanzang during his travel. The other compagnions of Xuanzang are the pig-human Zhu Bajie and the monk (Sha) Wujing, each with his own character. All of them have been punished for their greater or lesser crimes, and only acting together, then can manage to make their way to India. Battles scenes and magic spells, desciptions of exotic landscapes make out the popular welcome of this novel, while quotations of Daoist literature and many poems, songs and speeches also make this novel a very pretentious lecture. The exact description of daily life and human and celestial order even can induce a social critical interpretation of this novel.