1. The earliest version of Water Margin was pushed to the Biography of Zhong Yi in Beijing in Shanghai Library. Unfortunately, it has been seriously damaged, only two pages of residual paper, one is 10 volume 17 pages; One is 10 with 36 pages. Judging from the mouth, font ink and paper, this edition was carved in the first half of16th century, namely Zheng De (1506- 152 1) and Jiajing (1522- 1566) in Ming Dynasty. In the era of engraving, there was no earlier version of Water Margin.

2. The most widely circulated version of Water Margin in the past was Seventy Books of Water Margin, which was commented by Jin Shengtan in the Qing Dynasty and the first half of the 20th century. In all fairness, Jin Shengtan and Seventy Chapters have played a dual role in the spread history of Water Margin, with both merits and demerits. This edition keeps the first 70 chapters of the original book and deletes the last 30 chapters. Jin Shengtan invented a "terrible nightmare" ending, and he also revised the first seventy times according to his position and viewpoint on the peasant uprising and his feelings for Song Jiang and other characters. Because his comments have many original and incisive opinions, they are enlightening and instructive for ordinary readers. At the same time, because he kept seventy chapters, he networked the most wonderful, moving and memorable fragments in the whole Water Margin, and established the position of seventy chapters in the hearts of readers at that time.

3. How many systems or types are there in the version of Water Margin? Judging from the complexity of the characters in Water Margin, it can be divided into two systems. The Water Margin is divided into chapters: 100, 120, 70, 104,10,15, etc.

One hundred copies are the closest to the original appearance of the Water Margin. The existing Preface to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Rongyutang Journal are among the hundred volumes.

The existing simplified books, whether complete or incomplete, are mostly collected overseas. Domestic scholars still lack sufficient research on this. Shuangfengtang is the earliest existing simplified version in China. Its official name is "Comments on the Water Margin of Zhongyilin", which was published in the season and autumn of Wanli Wu Jia (1594) in the Ming Dynasty.