Monkey King was written anonymously 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 in the 7th century AD， accompanied by an omni-talented kung-fu Monkey King called Sun Wukong， one of the most memorable characters in all of literature。

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。