The Water Margin (水浒传) is a 1998 Chinese television series adapted from the 14th-century classical novel of the same title by Shi Nai'an. It was produced by CCTV and first broadcast in Mainland China in January 1998. The series also featured action choreography by Hong Kong action director Yuen Woo-ping. Liu Huan sang the ending theme song for the first 30 episodes while Peng Liyuan, the current First Lady of China, sang for the last 13 episodes.
The adaptation proved to be deeply controversial among its viewers, garnering mixed reviews, because its realism required the deletion of most of the heroic-romantic elements of the original work, and some criticized that it had "restored" the original work's comradely spirit of "pulling out a knife to help one another in times of difficulty" into lawless banditry and furthermore "constituted a distortion of the original work’s plot and narrative".
Contents
Cast
Note: Some cast members played multiple roles. Their roles are separated by a slash.
Music
The music for the series was composed by Zhao Jiping.
