biography
name: Wu Chengen
also spelled Wu Ch'eng-en
pronunciation: [woo chengen]
sex: male
lived: (1505–82)
biography: Writer, from a merchant family, born in Huai-an, Kiangsu Province, E China. He fused popular oral traditions into Journey to the West, one of four great Ming period novels. Based around Xuanzang's 7th-c trip to India, it focuses on a supernatural disciple, Monkey, converted from Taoism and sent by Buddha to protect Xuanzang from demons by using a magic pin in his ear as an iron cudgel. The work lampoons traditional officialdom, and during the Cultural Revolution (1966–76) it inspired Red Guards, who identified with the intelligent, personable Monkey (his cudgel represented Mao's thoughts). Serialized on Chinese television in recent years, an English translation is entitled Monkey.
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