"Journey to the West" is one of the four famous novels in my country. It can be said to be very popular for hundreds of years.

Wu Chengen began writing it in the 29th year of Jiajing reign in the Ming Dynasty. There were interruptions in the middle, and it was not completed until the 14th year of Wanli reign in the Ming Dynasty.

To this day, many film and television works based on the original work have been produced. For example, the latest "Journey to the West: Conquering Demons", "The Legend of Wukong", "Sun Wukong: The Three Bone Demons", etc., and the most classic one is the 1986 version of the TV series "Journey to the West" that is shown every summer vacation, which is a companion. A childhood classic for countless people.

At that time, after Mr. Wu completed this book in his later years, it became a bestseller at that time once it was published. However, in ancient times, when there were only written narratives and no rich forms of expression in today's film and television, what did "Journey to the West" rely on to become a best-seller of that era and remain popular for hundreds of years?

First of all, the most famous characters portrayed in the book are the four masters and apprentices. Sun Wukong was the most vivid and in line with the inner thoughts of the people at that time. What he showed was a spirit of fearlessness and courage to resist.

From the very beginning when the Monkey King came out, he had to compete with the monkeys for dominance, which shows Sun Wukong’s competitive character.

After becoming the Monkey Queen, he began to go eastward to seek the magic of immortality after witnessing the old monkey's old age, decay, and death. Immortality is also what ordinary people pursue.

So under the circumstances at that time, it was normal for the general public to be willing to read "Journey to the West", a fantasy novel. Especially after the Jiajing Emperor came to the throne, Taoism was even more popular at that time. It is a popular religion, and the plots described in the book also contain a lot of local Taoist colors.

Sun Wukong, who was causing havoc in the Heavenly Palace, represented the image of justice in the hearts of ordinary people. When the Heavenly Soldiers and Heavenly Warriors conquered Mount Huaguo, he defeated the Heavenly Army several times, deepening the feeling of being powerless and powerless. The concept of the Monkey King defeating the powerful.

Despised the corrupt and incompetent ruler of the Heavenly Palace, especially after entering the Heavenly Palace, he even shouted out the famous saying: "The emperor takes turns, come to my house next year".

It is equivalent to clearly declaring that the emperor will not be your family forever, and this is also in line with the literati's principle that the virtuous people in the world should live in it, and it will increase the coefficient of spread among literati and officials. .

What Monkey Sun did inspired people to have a positive attitude of fighting hard and never losing heart. Everything tells people: in order to realize a good ideal and goal, in order to complete a great cause, you will inevitably encounter various difficulties and setbacks, and only by daring to overcome difficulties and overcome setbacks can you have hope of success.

Secondly, in Chapters 45 and 46 of "Journey to the West" it is written: The four masters and disciples came to a place called "Chechi Country". The king here was superstitious about Taoism. Three Taoist priests were also appointed as national teachers, namely Master Huli, Master Luli and Master Yangli.

The Buddhist monks in the country were ordered by the king to go to Taoist temples to do hard labor and other lowly work.

When the author wrote this book, it was during the reign of Emperor Jiajing of the Ming Dynasty. As we all know, the civil service system of the Ming Dynasty was extremely complete, and the typical representative was the cabinet system of the Ming Dynasty.

This department has the final say in the handling of almost all affairs in the entire empire. Even without the emperor, the huge empire can still operate without any abnormality.

It is precisely for this reason that the emperors of the Ming Dynasty were basically free to deal with government affairs. This gave Emperor Jiajing the time to pursue his hobbies to the end.

And his hobby is to practice immortality and pray for immortality. The emperor spends all day in the Taoist temple in the palace studying how to become an immortal, practicing elixirs with a bunch of Taoist priests, and from time to time he likes to talk to the gods in the sky. Write notes and burn them.

And it was also because of his neglect of government affairs that a traitor like Yan Song emerged, and the courtiers hated him with anger.

The description of King Chechi’s “Daxi” (yes, they call him Daxi) in “Journey to the West” is almost exactly the same as today.

In terms of insinuations and criticisms of the rulers at that time, it was really brilliant.

This meaning also increased the spread and popularity of "Journey to the West" and eventually became a best-seller in the Ming Dynasty and even later generations!

The last point and the most important point is the superb artistic technique. The whole novel embodies rich and peculiar artistic imagination, vivid and tortuous storylines, lifelike characters, and humorous language.

For example, Tang Seng remained sanctimonious throughout the whole scene, and once had a tangle with the white mouse who stole lamp oil. At the beginning, Sun Wukong was fearless and dared to fight, and then he saw through everything and converted to Buddhism.

After Zhu Bajie was knocked down for teasing Chang'e, he still remained true to his original intention and went to Gaolaozhuang to become a son-in-law. On the way to learn the scriptures, he saw a female monster and wanted to tease her. Sha Seng appears to be honest, honest and hard-working, but in fact he is a sensible person who protects his own safety.

All this image creation can be said to have reached its peak. The characters of the main characters are also very distinct, and the book is suitable for a wide range of readers, both young and old. All this has become the foundation for it to be laid down as one of China's four great masterpieces in later generations.