Wu Cheng'en

The sixteenth-century author of Journey to the West — one of the four great classical novels of Chinese literature — Wu Cheng'en (吴承恩) created a work so enduring that the Monkey King remains one of the most recognized characters in world culture. The novel follows the monk Xuanzang and his supernatural companions — most famously the irrepressible Sun Wukong — on a pilgrimage to India to retrieve Buddhist scriptures.

Part adventure epic, part religious allegory, part comedy, Journey to the West has been adapted into more films, television shows, operas, manga, and video games than any other Chinese literary work. Wu Cheng'en wove together folklore, Buddhist and Taoist philosophy, and political satire into a narrative that feels inexhaustible — each generation finds new meaning in the Monkey King's rebellion against heaven. Four centuries later, the journey continues.