Journey to the West
西遊記
A great book. First published AD 1592, written in written Chinese language
Journey to the West is a Chinese novel published in the 16th century during the Ming dynasty and attributed to Wu Cheng'en. It is regarded as one of the great Chinese novels, and has been described as arguably the most popular literary work in East Asia. It was widely known in English-speaking countries through the British scholar Arthur Waley's 1942 abridged translation Monkey.
Your reading
Which translation to read
Anthony C. Yu2012Our pick
The complete novel, poems and all, in four volumes, revised by Yu himself.
Julia Lovell2021
As Monkey King: a brisk, funny abridgement.
Arthur Waley1942
As Monkey: a lively abridgement that made Sun Wukong famous in English.
