The former residence of Wu Cheng'en, the Ming dynasty author attributed with writing Journey to the West, is a modest historical site in the old city district of Huai'an. The house itself is restored and small — a typical scholar-official dwelling of the period — but the attached displays about Wu's life and the creation of one of China's four great classical novels make it worth a visit for anyone with an interest in Chinese literature.
Journey to the West was compiled and written in the sixteenth century, drawing on a thousand years of Buddhist pilgrimage literature and folk legend about the monk Xuanzang's real journey to India. The site situates the novel in its local and historical context, and the neighbourhood around it preserves a sense of the old city that has largely disappeared elsewhere. The visit is short — an hour is sufficient — and pairs naturally with the Zhou Enlai sites a few minutes' walk away.