Comments on “Water Margin”
(August 14, 1975)
The merit of the book “Water Margin” lies precisely in its theme of capitulation. It serves as a negative example, enabling the people to fully understand what the capitulationist faction is all about.
“Water Margin” only opposes corrupt officials; it does not oppose the emperor. The imperial regalia are kept beyond the circle of the One Hundred and Eight Heroes. Song Jiang surrendered and pursued revisionism, changing the Gathering Hall of Righteousness into the Hall of Loyalty and Righteousness, thus paving the way for an imperial amnesty. The struggle between Song Jiang and Gao Qiu was merely a conflict within the landlord class—this faction against that one. Once Song Jiang had surrendered, he led his forces to attack Fang La.
The leader of this peasant uprising was flawed: he capitulated. Li Kui, Wu Yong, and the three Ruan brothers—Xiao’er, Xiao’wu, and Xiao’qi—were good men; they were unwilling to surrender.
Lu Xun’s critique of “Water Margin” is excellent. He wrote:
“A single ‘Water Margin’ speaks very clearly:
Chuan
Since it does not oppose the Son of Heaven, once the imperial army arrives, the band immediately accepts the imperial pardon and goes off to fight other bandits—those who do not “act in heaven’s name.” In the end, they are nothing but lackeys. (“From ‘Three Idle Collections’: The Evolution of the Thug”)
Jin Shengtan cut more than twenty chapters from “Water Margin.” By doing so, he distorted its authenticity. Lu Xun was deeply dissatisfied with Jin and even wrote a special essay titled “On Jin Shengtan” (included in “Collection of Southern and Northern Dialects”).
We should publish all three versions of “Water Margin”—the 100-chapter, the 120-chapter, and the 71-chapter—and print Lu Xun’s comment at the beginning.

--- Notes

This essay consists of Mao Zedong’s remarks on “Water Margin” delivered on August 14, 1975, which were subsequently issued as Document No. 196 of the General Office of the CPC Central Committee in 1975. The first two paragraphs were quoted in the editorial “Launch a Critique of ‘Water Margin’,” published in the People’s Daily on September 4. On September 23, 1977, the CPC Central Committee forwarded “Evidence of the Anti-Party Clique Composed of Wang Hongwen, Zhang Chunqiao, Jiang Qing, and Yao Wenyuan (Material No. 3),” in which the full text of these remarks was reproduced in bold type. “Water Margin,” also known as “The Story of the Marshes,” or “The Water Margin: A Tale of Loyalty and Righteousness,” was compiled in the early Ming dynasty by the novelist Shi Nai’an, who drew upon “The Remaining Records of Xuanhe in the Great Song Dynasty” as well as related vernacular narratives and folk tales about the marshlands. The principal editions include the 100-chapter edition engraved during the Jiajing period by Marquis of Wuding, Guo Xun, titled “The Water Margin: A Tale of Loyalty and Righteousness”; the 120-chapter edition engraved by Yang Dingjian, “The Complete Water Margin: A Tale of Loyalty and Righteousness”; and the 71-chapter annotated edition by Jin Shengtan, “The Fifth Masterpiece: The Water Margin,” with commentary. All three versions have since been reprinted by the People’s Literature Publishing House.