Wu Chengen's Water Margins. However, this did not respect history at all. Were novels all distorting history? Why didn't they prohibit scholars from writing novels?

Wu Chengen wrote Water Margins. However, this did not respect history at all. Why were there so many fans? It was said to be a great masterpiece.
The real Song Jiang Uprising was very small, at most the size of a county, while the Fang La Uprising was slightly larger, roughly the size of a city.
However, Song Jiang did not accept the imperial court's offer of amnesty. Instead, he was ambushed and exterminated by the Haizhou Zhizhou, Zhang Shuye.
Fang La wasn't captured by Lu Zhishen, but by Han Shizhong's troops.
Fictions would always mislead future generations. Why did the government still allow novels to exist?

Answer 1

Wu Chengen's " Water Margins " was one of the classics of Chinese literature. Although this book had fabricated and adapted historical events, it was also a literary work that should not be regarded as evidence of disrespect for history. As a form of literature, novels can create a new story world through fiction and imagination. This story world can reflect the author's thoughts and understanding of society, politics, human nature and so on.

It was a controversial question whether the novel was distorting history. However, as a form of literature, novels usually adapted and created historical events to a certain extent to reflect the author's values and worldview. This kind of adaptation and creation was not to deliberately tamper with history but to better express the author's intentions and shape the characters in the novel.

Why didn't they prohibit scholars from writing novels? This was because literature, as an art form, had its own value and significance. Literature can reflect and shape social reality, inspire people's thinking and reflection, and also improve people's cultural quality and aesthetic standards. Therefore, the government should encourage writers to write novels and strengthen the supervision and management of novel creation to ensure the quality and historical accuracy of novels. The government could strengthen the supervision of novel creation and publication by formulating relevant laws and regulations to ensure that novels did not deviate from social reality and did not tamper with history.