Shui hu zhuan

I watched it when I was in elementary school back in China. I remember everything is old and dusty. Men never shave, and women are always looking for an edge to explore. I watched it again recently, and I am more than impressed.

If you've read the novel, you would know the story is not about heroes doing heroic things. It is about the reality in an oppressive society that everyone is constantly at everyone's throat. The best solution is to join a group and to kill any trespasser, which is a summary of the origin of organized crime or any organized things. We sometimes joke about water margin is actually about a start-up company going public but soon facing a hostile take-over from the state corporation.

I've watched some interviews with the original cast and directors. They deliberately made everything old and dusty on the site so that the audience could feel the distance in time. They also used real tiger for Wu Song to fight. It is way too realistic. "Heroes" can kill and eat normal people for fun and sport. The TV series did not shy away from the book.

The story is grim, action is cruel. And the music and theme song is so catchy. Chinese people of my age always sing the opening song when we do karaoke, retrospecting on our teenage years doing stupid things thinking we are the heroes from the water margin.

I watched this series in full four years ago after reading Sidney Shapiro's four-volume English translation. I did have to suspend my desire to scoff at the low-budget and third-world appearance of the series but, suspension done, I did enjoy it. The action is often laughable but the story is intact and the outlaws are very amiable, especially Song Jiang and Lin Chong. If I try to recall the most memorable scene it must be the one with Lin Chong fighting in the snow with the house on fire.

In conclusion, I enjoyed this series with the knowledge of the story I gained from reading the (fairly) unabridged Shapiro version first and unlike most Mainland Chinese produce, this is propaganda-free.