Introduction

On the summit of the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit a magic stone splits open and gives birth to a stone monkey. He learns from a master the seventy-two transformations and the cloud somersault, names himself 'Great Sage Equal to Heaven', throws the court of heaven into uproar, and is at last pinned by the Buddha beneath the Mountain of Five Elements for five hundred years. When the monk Tripitaka is sent by the Tang emperor to bring the scriptures from India, he takes Sun Wukong, Pigsy and Sandy as his disciples, rides a white dragon horse, subdues demons all along the way, survives eighty-one ordeals and reaches Vulture Peak at last to bring back the true scriptures. Based on the real journey of the monk Xuanzang, this novel of a hundred chapters is dazzling in imagination and full of humour; the Monkey King is known to everyone, and it is among the best-loved fantasy novels in world literature. We publish the complete translation in volumes.