Wu Cheng'en
Books by Wu Cheng'en
Monkey King: Journey to the West
Wu Cheng'en and Julia Lovell (translator)
Monkey King or Journey to the West is one of the classics of Chinese literature, written at the end of the 16th century. The story is based on a real historical figure, Tripitaka, who in the late 620s travelled to India, bringing back Buddhist manuscripts to China. The 16th century, fantastical version of the story, attributed to Wu Cheng'en, may not correspond with historical reality, but offers a wonderful snapshot of imperial China and its very distinctive worldview.
This is a new, abridged translation by Julia Lovell, one of the West's leading Sinologists. As well as ensuring the book is very funny in modern English, she also gives us a very neat introduction to the book and what it tells us about Ming-era China. "Belying the old cliché of imperial China as self-sufficient, isolationist and xenophobic, Journey to the West—an odyssey out of China, to attain the wisdom of Indian Buddhist civilization—tells a different story: one of Chinese fascination with foreign exotica."
Editor's note: the Penguin clothbound edition of this book is beautiful.
Interviews where books by Wu Cheng'en were recommended
-
1
The Shortest History of China: From the Ancient Dynasties to a Modern Superpower
by Linda Jaivin -
2
Monkey King: Journey to the West
Wu Cheng'en and Julia Lovell (translator) -
3
The Chinese Communist Party: A Century in Ten Lives
Edited by Timothy Cheek, Klaus Mühlhahn and Hans van de Ven -
4
Land of Big Numbers
by Te-Ping Chen -
5
In the Camps: China's High-Tech Penal Colony
by Darren Byler
The Best China Books of 2021, recommended by Jeffrey Wasserstrom
The Best China Books of 2021, recommended by Jeffrey Wasserstrom
Whether you want to read the entire history of China in 250 pages or find out what’s going on right now in Xinjiang, enjoy a new translation of a 16th-century fantasy novel or delve into contemporary short stories, 2021 has been another good year for books about China. Jeffrey Wasserstrom, Chancellor’s Professor of History at UC Irvine, recommends his favourite China books of 2021.
-
1
The Lotus Sutra
by Tsugunari Kubo and Akira Yuyama (traslators) -
2
Introduction to the History of Indian Buddhism
by Eugène Burnouf -
3
Bones, Stones, and Buddhist Monks
by Gregory Schopen -
4
Words of My Perfect Teacher
by Patrul Rinpoche -
5
Monkey King: Journey to the West
Wu Cheng'en and Julia Lovell (translator)
The best books on Buddhism, recommended by Donald S Lopez Jr
The best books on Buddhism, recommended by Donald S Lopez Jr
What is the Buddhist equivalent of the Bible? What is the Dalai Lama’s favourite book? Buddhist scholar Donald Lopez picks the best books on Buddhism.
