More epic than the myth

After deciding to write a book about monk Wukong, Miao began collecting materials. She carefully researched his journey and important events of his time, trying to put his experiences into context. She also sought historical literature, scholars' existing publications, and paid field trips to places related to him.

"The only direct historical material about monk Wukong is an article with over 3,000 characters describing his four-decade experience written by another monk who interviewed him, and a tower epitaph from the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) found near where he was buried in present-day Shaanxi," says Miao.

However, since the introduction of Wukong was affiliated with the Buddhist scriptures he brought from abroad, his story caught the attention of domestic and overseas scholars when they studied the history of Buddhism and that of Central and South Asia. Thus, British explorer Marc Aurel Stein (1862-1943) and some Japanese scholars had researched his itineraries, according to Miao.