Ciro Santilli @cirosantilli  40

As quoted on Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999) at 00:23:01:TODO find exact page/section.

This is just the most charming of the Four Great Classic Novels.

The definitive television series adaptation is obviously Journey to the West. It just manages to capture all the charms of Sun Wukong and Zhu Bajie.

Talks about rebellion of the oppressed (and bandits), and therefore has been controversial throughout the many Chinese dictatorships.

The book is based on real events surrounding 12th century rebel leader Song Jiang during the Song dynasty.

It is also interesting that Mao Zedong was apparently a fan of the novel, although he had to hide that to some extent due to the controversial nature of the material, which could be said to instigate rebellion.

The incredible popularity of the novel can also be seen by the large number of paintings of it found in the Summer Palace.

This is a good novel. It appeals to Ciro Santilli's sensibilities of rebelling against unfairness, and in particular about people who are at the margin of society (at the river margin) doing so. Tax the rich BTW.

It also has always made Ciro quite curious how such novels are not used as a way to inspire people to rebel against the Chinese Communist Party.

Full text uploads of Chinese versions:

Anywhere north, including NE and NW: fenlands, i.e. marshes. Quite a few quarries as well. Extremely flat, very uniform, towns often have to be on top of small hills to escape the incessant flooding. Norfolk Coast AONB is beautiful if you take a train ride first, the beaches are very wide and many of them have few people if you avoid a few very busy spots.

East and SE: rolling hills towards Suffolk and the coast. Beautiful county, both Dedham Vale AONB and Suffolk Coast AONB.

South: first one of the hilliest nearby areas around Elmdon and Arkesden, then gently going down to the lush Lee River valley.

Southwest: larger and larger cities as you move towards London. From a train starting point, you can reach the Northen Chilterns, for some serious hills.

West: mostly flat farmland until you hit the River Great Ousse.