Wu Ch'eng-en, a novelist and poet who…

Wu Ch'eng-en, a novelist and poet who dies in 1582, had received a traditional Confucian education and become known for his cleverness in the composition of poetry and prose in the classical style.

Throughout his life he has played a marked interest in bizarre stories, such as the set of oral and written folktales that form the basis of the folk novel Xiyouji (Journey to the West, also partially translated as Monkey).

In its one hundred chapters, Xiyouji details the adventures of a cunningly resourceful monkey who accompanies the Buddhist priest Xuanzang on a journey to India.

Like all novels of its time, Xiyouji is written in the vernacular, as opposed to the officially accepted classical style, and therefore had had to be published anonymously to protect the author's reputation.

As a result, the identity of the novelist has long been unknown outside of Wu's native district.

(Only two volumes of Wu's other writings have survived; these were discovered in the imperial palaces and were reprinted in 1930.)