Publication Notes
There are many versions of "Water Margin" circulated, and the popular ones are the 100-chapter version, the 120-chapter version, and the 70-chapter version.
As for the relationship between editions, generally speaking, the dates and months signed in the edicts, tables, and announcements involved in the 75th and later chapters of the 100-chapter version and the 120-chapter version are the same. For example, after Song Jiang defeated the Liao Dynasty, both books had an edict written in "Winter Month in the fourth year of Xuanhe" (see chapter 89). After Song Jiang defeated Fangla, he submitted an imperial edict to the court inscribed in "September in the fifth year of Xuanhe Year" (see chapter 89). Ninety-nine chapters back to the original, one hundred and nineteen chapters back to the original one hundred and twenty). However, the story of "Conquering Tianhu" and "Conquering Wangqing" in the 120th chapter (the 91st chapter returns to the 10th chapter) leaves no time for activities at all. The contradiction is obvious. Wanli of the Ming Dynasty asked " The new edition of the Beijing version of the holographic "Water Margin" by Tianhu Wang Qingzhongyi is clearly marked "inserted", which shows that it was forcibly inserted after being supplemented by later generations. As for the 70-chapter version, the research community has already determined that it was deleted and edited by Jin Renrui (Shengtan) of the Qing Dynasty. There is no "ancient version" promoted by the person who deleted it. Therefore, only the hundred-chapter version may be the earliest version of the "Water Margin" story that was finalized into a book, and it is also the closest to the original appearance of the legendary story.
One of the earliest versions of the 100-chapter version that has survived today is the Hangzhou Rongyutang engraved version (collected in the Beijing Library) in the last year of Wanli (around 1610). The original book has 100 volumes and 100 chapters, titled "Mr. Li Zhuowu's Criticism of Water Margin". There are four commentaries in the front of the book. The main text includes eyebrow comments, interline comments and a general comment at the end of the chapter. There are two exquisite paintings before each chapter. woodcut illustration. There is no author's name on this version.
This book is typed according to the punctuation of Rong Yutang's engraving edition, which was first published in 1975. In this reprint, several typographical errors in the first edition have been corrected.
The organization of this book is described as follows:
1. Named "Water Margin", and based on the text quality of the one hundred chapters of "Water Margin" attached to the original text " stated that the authors were Shi Naian and Luo Guanzhong.
2. The table of contents of the whole book, originally after the "introduction", has been moved to the front of the book for readers' review; the four commentaries attached to the front of the book have been changed to appendices and attached to the back of the book. The eyebrow comments, interline comments and comments at the end of the chapter in the original manuscript have been omitted and not recorded.
3. The text on some pages of the original book is full of fragments. It was revised based on the two fragments of the Rong Yu Tang block edition collected by the Beijing Library and the Institute of Literary Studies, as well as the preface of the foreign ministers of Tiandu during the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty.
4. Obvious mistakes and errors in the original text were corrected with reference to the Preface to the Foreign Ministers of Tiandu in Chapter 100 and the Preface to Yang Dingjian in Chapter 120. Except for the typographical errors that are clearly caused by engraving errors, the text will be corrected at the discretion of each copy, and the rest will remain as it is.
5. There are many words in the original text that are inconsistently used before and after. When proofreading, the words that have exactly the same meaning but are too confusingly used will be unified as appropriate, and the differences in the original book will generally be retained.
6. This book uses simplified characters for typesetting. Some ambiguous and easily misunderstood characters are still in traditional Chinese. If there are still some inaccuracies or even errors in the compilation of this book, I sincerely hope that readers will correct me.
Editorial Department of People's Literature Publishing House
April 1981
There are many editions of Water Margin and they have been widely circulated. Some of them are only in existence but no longer in books. . Here are some available versions for reference.
Traditional version
1. Hundred-chapter version, there are about four kinds
1. "Water Margin of Loyalty and Righteousness", one hundred volumes, one hundred chapters, Ming Dynasty The 17th edition of Wanli has been published, preceded by "Preface to Foreign Ministers of Tiandu"
2. "Mr. Li Zhuowu's Criticism of Loyalty and Righteousness Water Margin", one hundred volumes, one hundred chapters, written in the thirty-eighth year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty The Yutang edition is preceded by "Preface to Li Zhi", written by Hu Lin and Sun Pu in Zhongxia of Gengxu, and is preceded by "The Advantages and Disadvantages of One Hundred and Eight People in Liangshan Bo", and is preceded by "Criticisms of "Water Margin"", and is preceded by "On "On the Water Margin" "The text of "Water Margin"", and then "The pros and cons of the text of one hundred chapters of "Water Margin"".
3. "Mr. Zhong Jingbo's Commentary on Zhongyi Water Margin", one hundred volumes, one hundred chapters, published by the Sizhiguan in the late Ming Dynasty, and also published by Jiqingtang, preceded by Zhong Xing's preface and "Water Margin" 》Personality Evaluation”.
4. "Water Margin of Loyalty and Righteousness", 100 chapters, published in the late Ming Dynasty, preceded by "Preface by the Remaining Person of the Great Di". There is also a Mustard Seed Garden version with the same content.
II. One Hundred and Twenty Chapters
"Chuxiang Pingdian Zhongyi Water Margin Complete Book", one hundred and twenty chapters, published by Yuan Wuya during the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, preceded by "Li Zhi's Preface" , the next is "Yang Dingjian Xiaoyin", the next is "Song Jian", the next is "Xuanhe's Legacy" (one section), the next is "Fa Fan", the next is " "Water Margin" The birthplace and birthplace of one hundred and eight loyal people. There are also Yuyutang version and Baohanlou version, which have the same content.
Three or seventy chapters
"The Fifth Scholar's Book Shi Naian's Water Margin", seventy-five volumes, one chapter, seventy chapters, completed in the late Ming Dynasty The Huatang edition has three "Prefaces by Jin Shengtan" in front of it, one "Preface by Shi Naian" forged by Jin Shengtan, and several articles on "Reading the Calligraphy of the Fifth Talent".
Most of the books published by various publishing houses today are based on the above version. I browsed and found that the ones titled "Water Margin" have seventy chapters; those titled "Water Margin" have one hundred chapters. The book titled "Water Margin" must have one hundred and twenty chapters.
The seventy chapters of the gold version are revised based on the first seventy-one chapters of the hundred and twenty chapters. The original first chapter of Hong Taiwei releasing the demons was changed to wedges, and the following chapters were revised. Prerequisites in sequence. In the 100-chapter version, after the ranking, there are chapters such as Zhaoan, Liao and Fangla. The 120th chapter version adds the 20th chapter of Zhengtianhu and Zhengtianqing between Zhengliao and Zhengfangla. The industry is still undecided on which came first, the 100-payback or the 120-back return. The 100-payback seems to have the upper hand.
Simple version
1. One hundred and fifteen chapters, there are four kinds
1. "Water Margin of Loyalty and Justice", published by Liguangtang in Wanli period of Ming Dynasty, op. There are prefaces by Wenling Zheng Dayu and "Liangshan Yuanmen Pictures". An image is embedded in each leaf of this article. The title at the end of the volume is "Compiled by the father of the state of Yao Zongzhen in Qingyuan".
2. "Water Margin of Loyalty and Righteousness", published in the Ming Dynasty in a box version, out of order, with "Liangshan Botu" at the beginning, and the text is very simple.
3. "Water Margin of Loyalty and Righteousness", published by Dejutang in Jinling, Qing Dynasty, ten volumes, titled "Zixing of Shulin Wenxingtang".
4. "Water Margin of Loyalty and Righteousness", Qing dynasty edition, 20 volumes, co-engraved with "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", each leaf is divided into upper and lower sections, the upper section is "Water Margin", the lower section is "Water Margin" "Three Kingdoms". "Three Kingdoms" was reviewed by Mao Zonggang. The cover title is "Fantastic Books of the Han and Song Dynasties". The title "Hero Spectrum" is in the middle. In front of it is the preface of Xiong Fei (red jade). There are many versions of this style.
II. One Hundred and Two Chapters
"The Jingben's Supplementary and Corrected Complete Image of Zhongyi Water Margin Chronicles Commentary on Lin", one hundred and two chapters, written in the 22nd year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty during the Sino-Japanese War. Published by the Yu family of Shuangfengtang in Jianyang, Fujian. Each page is divided into three sections: comments at the top, illustrations in the middle, and text at the bottom. The content is similar to the 15-chapter version. Collection of Jizhaotang, Koyama, Nikko, Japan.
Three, one hundred and ten chapters
"Water Margin of Loyalty and Righteousness", twenty volumes, one hundred and six chapters, one hundred and ten chapters, published in the late Chongzhen year of the Ming Dynasty, and "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" co-engraved. Each leaf is divided into two parts, the upper one is "Water Margin" and the lower one is "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms". "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" is a 240-chapter version with "reviews by Wenling and Li Zaizhi". The general title is "The Complete Story of the Water Margin of the Three Kingdoms", also known as "The Genealogy of Heroes". It is preceded by prefaces by Xiong Fei and Jinjiang Yang Minglang (Mu Sheng), and is stored in the Japanese Cabinet Library.
Four, one hundred and twenty-four chapters
"The Fifth Book of Scholars", twelve volumes, one hundred and twenty-four chapters, published by Maodaotang in the fifth year of Guangxu's reign in the Qing Dynasty , preceded by a preface by the Marquis of Bingchen (*) in ancient Hangzhou in the first year of Qianlong's reign, followed by Yandang Shanqiao's "Water Margin Later Biography". There is another kind of scarf box version, which does not contain "Water Margin".
Fifth and thirty volumes
"Water Margin", thirty volumes, not divided into chapters, with programs, no chapters, published in Jinlu Yingxue Thatched Cottage, with the old man from Wuhu in front Foreword, stored in the Research Institute of the University of Tokyo, Japan.
There is also a fragmentary copy, the first volume of which is titled "Wen Xingtang's Comments", published in Baohanlou, and contains all of Volumes 1 to 5 and half of Volume 6. Each volume begins and ends by itself, without any chapter or chapter. There is a single sentence program at the beginning of each volume, ranging from six to seven to thirty in each volume. The text is very simple and has no poetry. It is preceded by a preface by the Old Man of the Five Lakes and is in the collection of the National Library in Paris, France.
Fragmentary version
1. "The newly engraved Beijing version with the complete version of Zengtian Hu Wangqing"
Ming Dynasty version, the remaining 20th volume and Volume 21 and a half. Each leaf is divided into upper and lower parts: the upper part contains illustrations, accounting for one-third of the whole leaf, and the lower part contains text, accounting for two-thirds of the whole leaf. Collection National Library, Paris, France.
2. Water Margin of Loyalty
The Ming edition contains five remaining chapters of Volume 11, namely Chapters 51 to 55.
Anonymous copy
1. "Water Margin", published by the Metropolitan Procuratorate.
It is recorded in Zhou Hongzu's "Ancient and Modern Book Engravings", but has not been seen.
2. "Water Margin", Guo Wu's edition, recorded in Chao (Wang Li)'s "Baowentang Bibliography" and Shen Defu's "Ye Huobian", but has not yet been seen. It is said that this book is designated as a rare book, and if it can be found, it will solve many questions.
3. "Water Margin of Loyalty and Righteousness", one hundred volumes, titled "The edition of Shi Naian of Qiantang, edited by Luo Guanzhong". Seen recorded in Baichuan Shuzhi.
4. "Water Margin of Loyalty", twenty volumes, recorded in "Shiyuan Bibliography".
Which of so many versions appeared first has always been a topic in the industry, and there is currently no conclusion. After the Cultural Revolution, some people gradually claimed that there were rarer versions. Some simply called it the ancient version of Water Margin, but they were later denied one by one.