Wu Cheng'en was a Chinese writer from Huai'an in Jiangsu Province during the Ming Dynasty. He studied classical texts and took the imperial civil service examination but never achieved a high rank in the imperial bureaucracy. Instead, he devoted himself to literature. Wu is traditionally regarded as the author of Journey to the West (Xiyouji), one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature. The work combines folk humor, mythology, and Buddhist and Daoist philosophy, and it depicts the monk Xuanzang's pilgrimage to India, accompanied by his disciples Sun Wukong, Zhu Bajie, and Sha Wujing. Wu Cheng'en died in his hometown of Huai'an, leaving behind a reputation as a writer who brought folk traditions into the literary canon.