The appearance of The Journey to the West opened up a new category of ghost novels. The ingenious combination of well-meaning satire, bitter satire and serious criticism in the book directly affects the development of satirical novels. So The Journey to the West is the pinnacle of ancient romance novels. In the history of world literature, it is also a masterpiece of romanticism and a pioneer of magical realism. ?

Since The Journey to the West, there has been a climax of writing ghost novels in Ming Dynasty. There are Zhu Xingzuo's Biography of Twenty-four Arhats Becoming the Tao, Deng Zhimo's Cycas Flying Sword Cursing Jujube, and Xu's Biography of Immortals. The Journey to the West also had a far-reaching influence on the traditional operas in China. The court drama "Shengping Bao Raft" in Qing Dynasty is a western game, with 10 copies and 240 copies.

The Journey to the West not only has sequels and imitations, but also has an influence on later novels, operas, baojuan and folk customs. The Journey to the West's drum ci is found in his disciple's book in Qing Dynasty, which shows its great influence.

Extended data

Creation background

In the first year of Zhenguan of Emperor Taizong (627), Xuanzang Tianzhu, a 25-year-old monk, went hiking in India.

After starting from Chang 'an, he passed through Central Asia, Afghanistan, Pakistan and finally arrived in India. He studied there for more than two years and gave a speech at a large-scale debate on Buddhist classics, which was well received. In the 19th year of Zhenguan (645), Xuanzang returned to Chang 'an and brought back 657 Buddhist scriptures, which was a sensation.

Later, Xuanzang dictated what he had learned about his journey to the West, which was compiled by his disciples into a 12 volume of "Records of the Western Regions of Datang". But this book is mainly about the history, geography and transportation of countries seen on the road, and there is no story.

As for "Datang The biography of Master Sanzang" written by his disciples Huihe and Yan Cong, it adds a lot of myths to Xuanzang's experience. Since then, the story of Tang Priest's Buddhist scriptures has been widely circulated among the people in China.

There were poems by three monks in the Tang Dynasty in the Southern Song Dynasty, Tang Sanzang and Pan in the Jin Dynasty, Tang Sanzang's "Learning from the Western Heaven" in Wu Changling, and "Great Sage" in the Fifth Ming Dynasty, all of which laid the foundation for The Journey to the West's creation. It is on the basis of Chinese folk literature, scripts and operas that Wu Cheng'en completed this great literary masterpiece through hard re-creation.

The Journey to the West author Wu Cheng'en (controversial) lived in the middle and late Ming Dynasty and experienced five periods: Hongzhi in Xiaozong, Jiajing in Sejong in Wuzong, Qin Long in Mu Zong and Wanli in Zongshen. The social situation in the middle and late Ming dynasty was very different from that in the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China. Political class contradictions, ethnic contradictions and contradictions within the ruling class have intensified and become increasingly acute.

The ideological and cultural enlightenment rose, the trend of human liberation rose, civic literature became increasingly prosperous, novel and drama creation entered a period of all-round prosperity, and capitalism sprouted economically.

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