Editing Jin Shengtan (section)

===Commentary on the ''Water Margin''===

Jin's first major critical activity, completed in 1641, was a commentary on the popular Chinese novel the ''[[Water Margin]]''. The commentary begins with three prefaces, in which Jin discusses his reasons for undertaking the commentary, and the achievements of the work's putative author [[Shi Nai'an]].  The next section is entitled "How to Read the Fifth Work of Genius".  In addition to advice for the reader, this section contains Jin's thoughts on the literary achievements of the novel as a whole.  The novel itself comes next, with introductory marks preceding each chapter, and critical comments inserted frequently between passages, sentences, and even words of the text.<ref>Wang (1972), pp. 53–54.</ref>

Jin's version of the ''Water Margin'' is most well known for the drastic alterations that he makes to the text.  Earlier versions of the text are 100- or 120-chapter in length.  Jin deletes a large portion of the story, from the second half of chapter 71 to the end of the novel.  In order to bring the modified text to a conclusion, he composes an episode in which [[Lu Junyi]] has a vision of the execution of the band, and amends this to the second half of chapter 71.  Jin also combines the Prologue of earlier editions with the first chapter, creating a new, single chapter titled "Induction".  This forces the renumbering of all subsequent chapters, so Jin's version of the ''Water Margin'' is referred to by scholars as the "70-Chapter Edition".<ref>Wang (1972), p. 54.</ref>  In addition to the large changes described above, Jin also changes the text of the remaining chapters in three general ways.  First, he improves the consistency of some sections, such that, for example, chapters whose content do not match their titles receive new names.  Secondly, Jin makes the text more compact by removing sections that he feels do not advance the story, and by excising the incidental [[Shi (poetry)|Shi]] and [[Ci (poetry)|Ci]] verses.  Finally, Jin makes subtle changes to the text for pure literary effect.  These changes range from emphasizing the emotions of characters to changing story elements to make them more compelling.<ref>Wang (1972), pp. 54–59.</ref>

Jin's critical commentary frequently oscillates between sympathizing with the individual bandit-heroes and condemning their status as outlaws. On one hand, he criticizes the evil official system that has led many of the 108 heroes to become bandits.  He also expresses admiration for several of the men.  On the other hand, he calls the band "malignant" and "evil".  He especially criticizes [[Song Jiang]], the leader of the group.  Jin's removal of the last 30 (or 50) chapters of the novel can be seen as an extension of his condemnation of banditry.  In these chapters, the bandits are pardoned by Imperial edict, and are put in service of the country.  Jin's version, by contrast, has all of the bandits captured and executed.  He follows this ending with eight reasons why outlawry can never be tolerated.<ref>Wang (1972), pp. 60–63.</ref>

Later readers of Jin have advanced two main theories for his divergent positions of admiring the bandits and yet denouncing them as a group.  [[Hu Shih]] argues that China during Jin's life was being torn apart by two bands of outlaws, so Jin did not believe that banditry should be glorified in fiction.  This agrees well with Jin's philosophy.  His Buddhist and Taoist beliefs advocated natural development for every individual in society, while the Confucian part of him respected the emperor and the state as the ultimate authority.  The other possibility is that Jin's attempt to reimage the novel into a condemnation of the bandits was to save the novel after it had been banned by the [[Chongzhen Emperor]].  This second theory is far-fetched, as the emperor's decree banning the novel was not promulgated until a year after the completion of Jin's commentary.<ref>Wang (1972), pp. 63–65.</ref> Jin's views on the characters aside, he has unconditional praise for the novel as a work of art.  He praises the vivid and lively characters of the novel, saying, "The ''Water Margin'' tells a story of 108 men: yet each has his own nature, his own temperament, his own outward appearance, and his own voice".  He also praises the work's vivid description of events, frequently remarking that the prose is "like a picture".  Finally, Jin appreciates the technical virtuosity of the author, and names 15 separate techniques used by Shi Naian.<ref>Wang (1972), pp. 65–68.</ref>