Journey to the West was written by Wu Ch’eng-en (1500?–1582), a scholar-official and is one of the renowned classical Chinese novels about an allegorical rendition of the journey, mingled with Chinese fables, fairy tales, legends, superstitions, popular beliefs, monster stories, as well as, whatever the author could find in the Taoist and Buddhist religions. It was based on a true story of a famous Chinese monk, Xuan Zang (602–664).