# Monkey King

Canonical: https://www.bookquiver.com/wu-czeng-en/monkey-king/9780141393445

![Monkey King](https://quivercdn.com/covers/penguin-classics/wu-chengen/monkey-king_978-01-4139-344-5.jpg?v=2026-04-23%2017%3A51%3A14)

- Book: [Monkey King](https://www.bookquiver.com/wu-czeng-en/monkey-king) ([Monkey King.md](https://www.bookquiver.com/wu-czeng-en/monkey-king.md))
- Authors: [Wu Čcheng-en](https://www.bookquiver.com/wu-czeng-en)
- Publisher: penguin_classics
- ISBN: 978-01-4139-344-5
- Pages: 384
- Published: 2021-02-11
- Language: en_GB
- Binding: Hardcover

## Description

One of China's Four Great Classical Novels, Monkey King was written anonymously during the Ming dynasty and is most commonly attributed to Wu Cheng'en, the son of a silk-shop clerk from east China. It recounts a Tang-dynasty monk's quest for Buddhist scriptures, accompanied by an omni-talented kung-fu Monkey King called Sun Wukong; a rice-loving divine pig; and a depressive man-eating river-sand monster. Comparable to The Canterbury Tales or Don Quixote , the tale is at once a comic adventure story, a humorous satire of Chinese bureaucracy, a spring of spiritual insight and an extended allegory in which the group of pilgrims journeys towards enlightenment.