II. The Picture-Story Version of Monkey King Thrice Defeats the Skeleton Demon, First Edition

You can read it here (Traditional Chinese): (http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_8d6082f10102w8yy.html)

The production of the picture-story version started immediately after the release of the opera. It took one year and nine months to see its final released.

The picture-story book was written by Wang Xingbei. Although it was largely based on the opera, Wang indeed has made some improvements. First, he deleted some of the sluggish plots (e.g.: Pigsy patrolling the mountain), making the story more compact. Second, as said in Part I, he made some modifications to the plots to manifest Monkey King’s cleverness and prudence. Besides, Wang’s writing was clear and appropriate, a worthy match to the beautiful illustrations.

As said before, because the adopted story applied to the political situation of the 1960s’ China quite well, the picture-story book served as some kind of a propagandistic instrument. Therefore, the government has employed the most talented persons to work on it. The result was very satisfactory.

The two artists of the book were indeed top picture-story artists of the time, Zhao Hongben and Qian Xiaodai. Zhao was good at drawing Journey to the West themed illustrations, while Qian was good at drawing young maidens and sceneries. During the process, Zhao was supposed to be the penciler, while Qian the inker. All the illustrations were inked using Chinese painting brush, the tip of which was soft, wherewith Qian drew strips of a unique and fantastic style.

Yet the work was not absolutely divided according to the above way. For every picture, the two would have thorough discussions starting from the sketching phase. Qian had the power to deny Zhao’s sketches. Sometimes, the two would exchange roles. During the process, they also needed to accept suggestions from their colleagues. According to Zhao’s note: Although the total amount of work was 110 pages of pictures, for each of the picture, they needed to rework 7 to 8 times. No wonder they succeeded in creating this peak of Chinese picture-story book!

III. The New-Year-Picture Version of Monkey King Thrice Defeats the Skeleton Demon

The picture-story book was a huge hit. It won the Championship of “The First Chinese Picture-Story Book Contest” in 1962. In 1964, Zhao and Qian collaboratively released a 12-page full-color New-Year-Picture (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Year_picture) Version of Monkey King Thrice Defeats the Skeleton Demon, which also pushed the envelope.

Since the number of pages of the new-year pictures is nearly a tenth of that of the picture-story book, it would be much harder for the artists to express the complete story within the limited number of pages. In order to achieve that, the new-year pictures highly condensed the information and elements of the picture-story book. Take, page one, for example: Monkey King set out to find food - the artists added the Skeleton Demon to the lower-right part of the picture, letting her hide behind a rock, thus enriching the amount of information of this single page, so that it told more story than its counterpart in the picture-story book.

All the 12 pages of the new-year pictures were elaborately drawn and beautifully colored. They can be both viewed as a condensed version of picture-story book and as high-quality illustrative arts. During the 1960s, these new-year pictures had circulated very well.

IV. 1972 Revised Version of the Picture-Story Book

You can read it here (Simplified Chinese):
(http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_8d6082f10102w90o.html)

In 1972, the revised version of the picture-story book was published. Up until the end of the Cultural Revolution (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_Revolution), all the picture-story books of Monkey King Thrice Defeats the Skeleton Demon that had been published were exclusively this version. For this reason, fans now call this version the “Cultural Revolution edition”. (We have never seen the oversee release of this edition.) (Sometimes this version is also called “May 7th Cadre School edition”, because the byliner of this version was: Monkey King Thrice Defeats the Skeleton Demon Revision Group of May 7th Cadre School of News & Press Division of Shanghai City.)

Since Zhao was a very famous picture-story artist who got paid handsomely long before the foundation of PRC, he was persecuted during the Cultural Revolution and was forced to labor in a “May 7th Cadre School” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_Seventh_Cadre_School). In 1972, he was commissioned by the government to revise the picture-story book. This time he was told to highlight the anti-revisionism theme. By that time, Qian was already deceased. So the inker of this version was Wang Yiqiu, Zhao’s friend, who was younger then Zhao.

In order to better understand the anti-revisionism theme of the story, the two has consulted Yu Zhongying, the director of the Shao-opera film, and revised the arts and the story according to what they learned from him.

At first glance, the revised edition is almost identical to the first edition, but in fact, many pictures have been modified or even re-structured. The two revised the first edition and made many changes. Wang’s inking style in this work resembles that of Qian so well, that most people cannot tell the difference.

Below are some of the important changes of this edition:

The revised edition slightly changed the appearance of characters, e.g.: draw the bootlaces of the characters larger; changed the style of Monkey King’s headband so that it became identical to Pigsy’s and Sandy’s; added a flower-shape to the between of the eyebrows of Monkey King; as for Pigsy, in the first edition, Pigsy’s navel was exposed; in the new edition, old Pig was more civilized, his pants lifted up, covering his navel, his proportion slightly changed, having two slightly longer legs.
Many pictures were modified so that they were better structured. Take the Picture of the “first beat”, for example: in the first edition, the weeds to the left of the Monkey King stick too close to him, so that it looked quite messy, failing to highlight the Monkey. In the revised edition, there was a space between the Monkey and the weeds, thus highlighting the Monkey. As for the picture of “Water-Curtain Cave”, the first edition had the waterfall occupy three fifth of the picture, blocking the larger part of Pigsy. The revised edition redrew the picture so that the waterfall only occupied two fifth of the picture, revealing more of Pigsy. Besides, Pigsy’s rake prostrated through the water-curtain in this version, a skillful presentation of the interaction between the characters and backgrounds.
In some pages, Monkey King “stood out”. Some pictures which illustrated the alertness and smartness of the Monkey were added.
Several pictures were added to process of the “three beats”.
Some pictures were completely redrawn, e.g.: the last pictures of the second and third “beats”.
The picture in which Monkey King Kowtowed to the Monk was changed to a picture wherein the Monkey stood.
All the pictures in which Monkey King was in agony because the Monk cast the band-tighten spell were deleted.
Several pictures about how Monkey King killed Granny Spotter were added.
In the final battle, several pictures which illustrated the mighty power and braveness of Monkey King were added. A most impressive one was the one in which “a flaming divine word proceeded from the mouth of Monkey King, burning up the essence of the Skeleton Demon.”
The facial expression of the true form of the Skeleton Demon was more bitter and cruel, lacking feminine attractiveness.
The carpet in the cave of the Skeleton Demon was removed. The back of the throne, which originally resembled a “red sun” (Mao was called a red sun.), now looked like something else.
At the end of the story, a picture depicting the Monk being instructed by the Monkey was added.

These changes were made to cater to the situation of 1970s. By then, it was quite clear the Monkey King was Mao. It was a pity that “the band-tighten spell” illustrations were removed, yet some newly added illustrations were really good, making this edition a must to the collectors.

The number of pages of the “Cultural Revolution edition” totaled 118, eight more in number compared to the 1962 first edition.

V. My Collections
2007 Pocket Book
Publisher: People’s Art Press
A special version which combines both the first edition and the Cultural Revolution edition, totaling 131 pages. The pictures are a little bit small compared to other editions I have.

2011 Pocket Book
Publisher: Picture-Story Book Press
A reprint of the Cultural Revolution edition. The pictures are a little bit small compared to other editions I have.

2012 “B5” –Size Book
Publish:Shanghai People’s Art Press
A big-book reprint of the first edition with all the details. The 12 new-year pictures are also included.

2009 “A5” –Size Book
Publisher: Picture-Story Book Press
A reprint of the first edition with fewer details than “2012 “B5” –Size Book”. The 12 new-year pictures are also included. A calligraphy artwork specially written by Mao for the 1962 picture-story book was included as well.

2014 “A5” –Size full-color Book
Publisher: Picture-Story Book Press
A newly-colored version of the first edition. All the 110 pictures have been fully colored, each set besides its counterpart of the original black-and-white picture. 12 leaflets of “A4” –Size new-year pictures are dispatched along the book as bonus contents.

2014 Extra-Large-Size New-Year-Picture Art Book
A de luxe art book of the 12 new-year pictures.

2012 “A5” –Size Book
Publisher: Picture-Story Book Press
A reprint of the Cultural Revolution edition. The pictures are very clear.

1972 “A6” –Size Book
Publisher:Shanghai People’s Press
Some old pocket book I chanced to see in a stall. It costed me 5 Yuans.