Original book: 2 versions
The version of "Water Margin" has two systems: "traditional version" and "simplified version". The traditional version has more detailed descriptions, including plots such as the expedition to Liao and Ping La after Dajuyi; the simplified version is simple and complicated, and the text is rough, but there are two more plots of Hirata Tiger and Ping Wangqing than the traditional version. The simplified version was once popular among middle- and lower-class readers in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, but it declined rapidly after entering the 20th century and became a research material for the history of version evolution.
1. The simplified version
The simplified version includes all the plots of the recruitment, the conquest of Liao, the conquest of Tianhu and Wang Qing, the beating of Fangla and the poisoning of Song Jiang. The reason why it is called a simplified version is mainly because the text is relatively simple and there are few detailed descriptions. The discovered simplified versions include:
(1) One hundred and fifteen chapters
(2) One hundred and ten chapters
(3) One hundred and two chapters Fourteen chapters
2. Traditional version
The traditional version is more detailed and is the most widely circulated. There are three main types: 100-chapter version, 120-chapter version and 10-chapter version. But the main part that was rewritten and added was the plot after the recruitment.
(1) One hundred chapters: After Song Jiang was recruited, there were plots such as the "conquest of Liao" and the conquest of Fangla.
(2) Seventy-chapter version: Jin Shengtan of the Qing Dynasty deleted and revised it, cutting in half the one hundred chapters about Zhao An and Zhiqiu, and ending with Lu Junyi’s dream in the seventy-first chapter of the original book, and then the first chapter back as a wedge. This is the seventieth chapter. It is generally believed that only the 100-chapter version may be the earliest formalized version of the "Water Margin" story, and it is also the version closest to the legendary story.
TV series: 5 versions
1. The 1972 film of the same name directed by Chang Cheh and others
2. The 1976 BBC version of "Water Margin"
< p>3. 1998 CCTV version of "Water Margin"4. Shandong version of "Water Margin" in the early 1980s
5. 2011 version of "Water Margin" directed by Ju Jueliang
Extended information:
The earliest existing version of "Water Margin" is undoubtedly "Jingben Zhongyi Zhuan" preserved in the Shanghai Library. This version was probably engraved during the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty. One hundred chapters version. The version of Water Margin is very complex. In the process of spreading, different versions of the story appeared. It can be roughly divided into two systems: simplified version and traditional version.
Baidu Encyclopedia - Water Margin