Wu Chengen was unknown a hundred years ago. Who is the original author of Journey to the West?

Hello everyone, I am concerned When studying, there is a Chinese compulsory question Who are the authors of the four famous novels This question is in the current textbook There is a standard answer So now we without hesitation You can answer them all But in academia Apart from Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the author is Luo Guanzhong basically meaningless The authors of the remaining three books are more or less controversial For example, Dream of Red Mansions Now there are many red science experts Whether the author is Cao Xueqin There have also been controversies About the author of Water Margin It is also said that Shi Naian and Luo Guanzhong co-authored But the most controversial one is Journey to the West We all know that the author of Journey to the West is Wu Chengen But in the Qing Dynasty Very few people know Wu Chengen What is the most mainstream view? The author of Journey to the West is the famous Changchun real person in Yuan Dynasty Qiu Chuji What about Qiu Chuji? Many people know him It's all because of Jin Yong's Legend of the Condor Heroes certainly Qiu Chuji did indeed exist in history Celebrities on the Road Qiu Chuji is the author of Journey to the West Appeared in Qing Dynasty Shunzhi period How did that Taoist priest become the author of Journey to the West? Let's talk about this later Let’s first look at how the book Journey to the West was born In fact, as early as before the Yuan Dynasty The story of Journey to the West has been widely circulated among the people. But at that time they were all scattered legends No complete novel publication For the first time, a complete paper novel appears It was in the 20th year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty That is 1592 AD At that time, there was a bookstore called Shidetang in Nanjing. This bookstore not only sells books He also bought the copyrights of various novels and printed and distributed them himself. Roughly equivalent to a modern publishing house In the 20th year of Wanli Ge Shidetang published a batch of Journey to the West It quickly became a bestseller at the time Now at the National Palace Museum in Taipei There is also a set of Shidetang’s original Journey to the West very precious But this Seidetang version of Journey to the West not signed Only in the preface to the first volume A vague introduction to the origin of this novel Shidetang said that when he published I don’t know who the author is either Maybe it came from a certain royal palace It is also possible that it was written by a certain Juren or Jinshi Anyway, the author who wrote this book Definitely not a simple character Then with the popularity of Journey to the West Everyone began to become more and more curious about this author. After verification by many people Just think The author of Journey to the West must have come from An official in a certain royal palace Because I want to write such a good work First of all, you must have literary talent He is a knowledgeable person Then what You must also have experience in officialdom. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to write Journey to the West Those things that lead to officialdom Since this novel was published achieved great success and response Then why doesn’t this author take the initiative to speak out? I wrote this This has something to do with the atmosphere in the literary world at that time. The literati of that era regarded reciting poems and composing Fu as elegant Write novels that entertain the common people Considered a low-end hack So the author who wrote Journey to the West If it is really a person with status He would never dare to sign his name publicly. said he wrote it So no one has come forward to admit I am the author Time soon came to the Shunzhi period of the Qing Dynasty There was a Taoist priest named Caimeng Taoist published his research It is said that the author of Journey to the West passed his research It should be the Qiu Chu of our Taoism. machine The name of this Canmeng Taoist is Wang Xiangxu He was a very famous person in the field of Taoism at that time. Then his evidence is Qiu Chuji was once invited by Genghis Khan led his disciples to the Western Regions And in Journey to the West There is a lot of content about Taoism What about the idea that Qiu Chuji is the author of Journey to the West? Received support from many scholars in the Qing Dynasty So during the Qing Dynasty Suppose a child takes an exam Examine the author of Journey to the West Then you have to fill in the Qiu Chu machine to be the correct answer Of course in the Qing Dynasty Some scholars have also questioned this statement For example, the famous Ji Xiaolan I found more favorable evidence to refute it. He said that in Journey to the West The descriptions of Jin Yiwei and Si Lijian appear many times. Si Lijian and Jinyiwei were only available in the Ming Dynasty Naqiu Chuji was from the Yuan Dynasty How could he possibly write something from the Ming Dynasty? So in the late Qing Dynasty What about the idea that Qiu Chuxi is the author of Journey to the West? also began to falter It is the first time that the author is Wu Chengen. It was during the Qianlong period There is an archaeologist named Wu Yujin in Huai'an, Jiangsu Province When he was compiling Huai'an County Chronicles, I accidentally saw the above record saying Wu Chengen wrote the book Journey to the West Wu Chengen is from Huai'an Therefore, the Huai'an county government For local people who have a certain reputation in history are recorded The view that Wu Chengen is the author of Journey to the West Soon he got inside the imperial court Support from many officials from Huai'an Wu Chengen's theory gradually gained momentum But Wu Chengen is the author of Journey to the West Except for the records in Huai'an County Chronicles There is no other solid evidence to support It's a very fragile point of view But by the time of the Republic of China Wu Chengen's theory was supported by Hu Shi and Lu Xun The influence of Hu Shi and Lu Xun the force is too great The statement of the two of them It can almost be said to be the final word From now on Wu Cheng'en plays the author of Journey to the West becomes the standard answer Then after the 1970s and 1980s Academic circles have begun to debate the author of Journey to the West again Have a free discussion Some scholars have suggested that the author was the capital of the Ming Dynasty cabinet Li Chunfang’s statement and presented some inferential evidence But it is not enough to overturn Wu Chengen’s theory So to this day The copyright of Journey to the West still belongs to Wu Chengen So what I’m sharing today is what I care about Welcome everyone to leave a message to discuss See you in the next episode