★★☆☆☆ Song Jiang is no Robin Hood

Water Margin: Outlaws of the Marsh

Shi Nai'an, Edwin Lowe (Foreword), J.H. Jackson (Translator)

There are four widely-recognized classic Chinese novels. Seriously, do a web search for "classic Chinese novels" and you will find dozens of pages referring to "The Four Classic Novels of Chinese Literature". (Wikipedia lists six on its Classic Chinese Novels page" -- these include the usual four, plus two others.) The phrase "Four classic Chinese novels" also appears frequently in commentary on Chinese literature. The four are

Romance of the Three Kingdoms
The Water Margin
Journey to the West
Dream of the Red Chamber

I begin by clarifying that in this review of Water Margin I am trying only to answer the question, "If an educated American who understands no Chinese and has only the most cursory knowledge of Chinese culture (that would be me) reads Water Margin, will they find it entertaining/rewarding?" I make no attempt to judge its literary merit or its place in the historical canon of Chinese literature -- I am not qualified. I am not even answering the question, "Should you read this?" One may have many reasons for reading a book, of which entertainment is only one. For instance, Mao Zedong enjoyed Water Margin and took it as a model for his revolution, in some degree. To my mind, that itself is a pretty good reason to read it.

As you have already guessed from my two-star rating, my answer to the entertainment question is "Probably not." The plot of Water Margin consists mostly of big dumb men wandering around China whacking each other with sticks. OK, that is not entirely accurate, but let me be more specific. Under sticks, of course, I understand cudgels, spears, swords, halberds, hooked poles, and even occasionally arrows. Not all the 108 heroes of Liangshan Marsh are big -- some are rather small, including Song Jiang, the Robin Hood of this band of Merry Men. About the "dumb" part, well, some of the heroes are intelligent. I know this because I was told by other heroes that these ones are intelligent. I don't know it from their own actions or words. For instance, I kept a careful tally of all the times when one of the heroes said something that made me think to myself, "Very clever!" or "Yeah, that's wise." Let me add them up: the grand total is 0. Yeah, that never happened. As for the "men" part, that regrettably, is almost entirely accurate. Of the 108 heroes of Liangshan Marsh, three are women. The portrayal of every other woman than these three is, in two words, "wildly offensive". I haven't the stomach to go into details, so I'll just leave it at that.

Song Jiang views himself as succoring the common people who oppose the officials of a corrupt and illegitimate empire. He frequently makes speeches proclaiming his virtue and the virtue of the heroes. So, he really is portrayed as the Robin Hood of China. But he is not Robin Hood. His actions don't conform to his words. Let me give an example. This example concerns the recruitment to the band of Zhu Tong, nicknamed "Beautiful Whiskers".

As our story begins, Zhu Tong has just arrived at Cangzhou Prefecture. The Prefect's Son (who admires Zhu Tong's beard) becomes friends with him, and the Prefect asks Zhu Tong to "look after his son and to play with him in future." One day two men from Liangshan Marsh show up and distract Zhu Tong. After they leave, the boy is no longer where Zhu Tong left him. Zhu Tong finds him dead with his skull cleft in two. The men from Liangshan explain this as follows:

They were on their way to request you to join them at Liangshan Marsh. As you refused to join them, Li Kui kidnapped the boy, and killed him, so that you could not return to the yamen and face his father.”
Just then Lei Heng and Wu Yong entered the room, and after saluting Zhu Tong they said, “Please forgive us for the crime committed. We did it only by order of our chief, Song Jiang. If you come with us to Liangshan Marsh all will be explained to you.”
“Your asking me to go to Liangshan Marsh was all right,” replied Zhu Tong, “but your method of inducing me to go was exceedingly cruel. I will go with you now, but I must first see Li Kui.”

Yeah, "exceedingly cruel" hardly covers it. Even by his own standards, Song Jiang is not an admirable character.

Finally, a word on this edition. The editor is Edwin H. Lowe of Macquarie University. He is careful to specify that this is not a new translation -- it is merely a polish and modernization of an earlier translation by J. H. Jackson. Lowe has prepended to the book an introduction that is truly fascinating -- much more interesting than the novel itself, in my opinion, describing the textual history and historical significance. I will quote here his dedication, which I found most interesting, to (I am guessing) his son

To little Harry,

25th Generation of the Liu clan of Zhongshan, Guangdong;
5th Generation of the Lowe family of Sydney, Australia;

67th generation descendant of Liu Bang,
The leader of the bandit rebellion who slew the snake near Mount Mangdan and who became Gaozu, the first Emperor of the Han Dynasty in 202 BCE;

with love.

I was reminded by this of Abraham Lincoln's words

I don't know who my grandfather was; I am much more concerned to know what his grandson will be.

The contrast between Chinese and American cultures could hardly be greater.

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