The Monkey King was written anonymously during the Ming Dynasty and is most commonly attributed to Wu Cheng'en, the son of a silk shop employee from East China. The story tells of a Tang Dynasty monk's quest for Buddhist scriptures in the 7th century AD, accompanied by an all-powerful Kung Fu monkey king named Sun Wukong, one of the most memorable characters in all of literature.

Comparable to the Canterbury Tales or Don Quixote, the narrative is both a comedic adventure story and a humorous satire on Chinese bureaucracy, a source of spiritual insight, and an extensive allegory in which a group of pilgrims is on a journey toward enlightenment.