A Probe into Three Wives of ZHU Ba-jie and WU Cheng-en Who Is not the Author of Western Journey

In the early books concerning western journey including the one with 100 chapters, ZHU Ba-jie had three wives: PEI Hai-tang, LUAN Er-jie and GAO Cui-lan. The design of the three figures was rooted in different cultures and they had different cultural connotations. In addition, they showed the artistic capability of different authors or the same author under different circumstances. Nevertheless, this has contributed to the shaping of the classical figure ZHU Ba-jie with strong lust and the figure as a good husband and son-in-law. And it has especially helped to highlight the randy nature of ZHU who found his head deeply in sex. This nature has become the biggest barrier to the practice of Buddhism. In spite of that, it is made a striking literary feature. From ZHU’s hesitation at no act in his two marriages, one can infer that the author of Western Journey does not seem to be WU Cheng-en whose father was the son-in-law living together with his wife’s parents.