Monkey

Wu Ch'eng-en wrote "Monkey" in the middle of the 16th century, adding to an ancient Chinese legend his own touches of delicacy and humour. The result is a jumble of the absurd and the profound, of religion and history, of anti-bureaucratic satire and pure poetry.

Very little is known about Wu Ch-eng-en (c. 1505-80) although he is believed to have held the post of District Magistrate for a time. He had a reputation as a good poet but only a few rather commonplace verses of his survive in an anthology of Ming poetry and in a local gazetteer.