\nA friend asked me about her third-grade daugh\u00adter\u2019s recent love for the new TV series \u201cWater Mar\u00adgin,\u201d and her read\u00ading abil\u00adi\u00adty is pret\u00adty good. Could I use this oppor\u00adtu\u00adni\u00adty to intro\u00adduce her to the Four Great Clas\u00adsi\u00adcal Nov\u00adels? This is a very com\u00admon and inter\u00adest\u00ading ques\u00adtion, so here\u2019s a quick com\u00adment:
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\nWater Mar\u00adgin is tra\u00addi\u00adtion\u00adal\u00adly rec\u00adog\u00adnized as one of the Four Great Clas\u00adsi\u00adcal Nov\u00adels, and it\u2019s cer\u00adtain\u00adly a good book. But there\u2019s also the say\u00ading, \u201cYoung peo\u00adple should\u00adn\u2019t read Water Mar\u00adgin, and old peo\u00adple should\u00adn\u2019t read Romance of the Three King\u00addoms,\u201d which is also quite tra\u00addi\u00adtion\u00adal. Recent\u00adly, writ\u00aders like Lung Ying-tai have expressed their dis\u00adap\u00adproval of chil\u00addren read\u00ading Water Mar\u00adgin, while schol\u00adars like Liu Zai-fu have even called it a pseu\u00addo-cul\u00adtur\u00adal clas\u00adsic. Which of these argu\u00adments is more rea\u00adson\u00adable? I think both have their points of view. But what real\u00adly mat\u00adters is that our chil\u00addren are our own, so we must have our own per\u00adspec\u00adtives.<\/p>\n
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\nTake me, for exam\u00adple. I read Water Mar\u00adgin as a child, and I haven\u2019t become a bad per\u00adson, haha. My daugh\u00adter\u2019s moth\u00ader was also fas\u00adci\u00adnat\u00aded by it as a child, and she\u2019s still rel\u00ada\u00adtive\u00adly well-man\u00adnered. Thank\u00adful\u00adly! So when my daugh\u00adter was lit\u00adtle, we dragged her along to watch the TV series Water Mar\u00adgin (the old ver\u00adsion, of course). She watched a few clips and was hor\u00adri\u00adfied by the vio\u00adlence! She absolute\u00adly refused to watch it. We fig\u00adured it was fine if she did\u00adn\u2019t want to, and we did\u00adn\u2019t force her, con\u00adsid\u00ader\u00ading she was still young at the time (I think she was\u00adn\u2019t even in school yet). Now my daugh\u00adter is in sixth grade, and I\u2019ve secret\u00adly watched two episodes of the new Water Mar\u00adgin. Oh my god, it\u2019s so bloody and vio\u00adlent (I hap\u00adpened to be watch\u00ading the part about the beat\u00ading of Zhen Guanxi)! Even I could\u00adn\u2019t stand it, let alone rec\u00adom\u00admend it to my daugh\u00adter. Hon\u00adest\u00adly, she does\u00adn\u2019t have the time to read it; there are so many more inter\u00adest\u00ading books and things to do.<\/p>\n
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\nI still have the \u201cWater Mar\u00adgin\u201d com\u00adic strip (old edi\u00adtion, 26 vol\u00adumes; new edi\u00adtion, 32 vol\u00adumes) pub\u00adlished by the Peo\u00adple\u2019s Fine Arts Pub\u00adlish\u00ading House. My daugh\u00adter flips through it when she\u2019s free. I also have Yuan Kuocheng\u2019s sto\u00adry\u00adtelling of \u201cWater Margin\u201d\u2014it\u2019s absolute\u00adly won\u00adder\u00adful. We\u2019ve lis\u00adtened to it togeth\u00ader sev\u00ader\u00adal times. The sto\u00adry\u00adtelling ver\u00adsion is essen\u00adtial\u00adly a folk sto\u00adry\u00adtelling ver\u00adsion, very humor\u00adous and sharp. It empha\u00adsizes the char\u00adac\u00adters, down\u00adplays the upris\u00adings and fight\u00ading, and does\u00adn\u2019t include the plot of the sur\u00adren\u00adder and its after\u00admath. It\u2019s a delight\u00adful read for both paci\u00adfist adults and chil\u00addren. I think it could even be cat\u00ade\u00adgo\u00adrized as \u201cchil\u00addren\u2019s lit\u00ader\u00ada\u00adture,\u201d O(\u2229_\u2229)O haha~<\/p>\n
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\nIn short, the Water Mar\u00adgin retellings by oth\u00aders, com\u00adic strips, tele\u00advi\u00adsion, film, and sto\u00adry\u00adtelling, are all dif\u00adfer\u00adent ver\u00adsions of the orig\u00adi\u00adnal Water Mar\u00adgin, each imbued with a dif\u00adfer\u00adent per\u00adspec\u00adtive and ratio\u00adnale. I think if a child stum\u00adbles upon it, enjoys it, and watch\u00ades it on their own, there\u2019s noth\u00ading wrong with it. Regard\u00ading the ques\u00adtion of whether adults should guide chil\u00addren to watch it, then it\u2019s cru\u00adcial to con\u00adsid\u00ader the adults\u2019 own per\u00adspec\u00adtive and ratio\u00adnale. If adults tru\u00adly deem it essen\u00adtial, then it\u2019s worth giv\u00ading it a try and sim\u00adply read it with them; if not, then let it be.<\/p>\n
\n
\nHow\u00adev\u00ader, if con\u00addi\u00adtions per\u00admit, there should always be some ver\u00adsions of books in the col\u00adlec\u00adtion at home so that chil\u00addren can \u201ccome across them on their own\u201d at any time. If there are always no copies, they will nev\u00ader come across them even if they want to :)<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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