On Evolution of Zhu Bajie’s Image in the Stories Concerning the Journey to the West from the Naming Perspective

The Zhu Bajie’s nickname“monster of black pig”has come from the historical tale concerning the pig monster.And both the black pig monster and the“black wind king”in the popular stories in Song and Yuan Dynasties were born in the North, black, dirty and lech.Accordingly, they were connected.With the evolution of the stories concerning the journey to the West since Yuan and Ming Dynasties, the agent had to be found for Zhu Bajie among the Taoist immortals.And the“Tianpeng martial”who also lives in the North, is black and able to call for wind and rain has become the best candidate.In the early period of Bajie’s participation, he was given the surname“Zhu” (generally as a common family name in China) by a Buddhist master instead of its homophone“Zhu” (referring to“pig”) .After the transition from Yuan to Ming, for the sake of avoiding the disaster and accordance between the name and its reference, the literary men humorously changed his surname into the latter“Zhu” (pig) .Such name and Zhu Bajie’s image have become fixed ever since.The evolution of Zhu’s image is significant for the study of individuality, which has provided the supplementation for the whole development of stories concerning the journey to the West.