鉛、石印技術滿足通俗小説市場需求，而待1919年起，因白話文、新式標點符號及整理國故、學校及民眾教育等文教趨勢登上時代舞台，促使《水滸傳》文本面貌趨向多元，出現前所未見的出版方式：先是採用新式標點的亞東本《水滸》刪除金批語，讓多家出版社追摹仿效；接著白話文運動發酵，成為白話文範；而學校教育納入語體文，在兒童語體文讀本不足之下，教員已率先採用片斷故事本作為閱讀教材；中小學國文課程綱要的「略讀」部分，則孳生片斷故事本及原著新訂本，更徹底執行整理國故，刪汰淫褻、神怪、暴力等國渣，以適合兒童、青少年及民眾閱讀。總之，《水滸傳》隨著文教趨勢，從「通俗小説」搖身ー變，轉型成為賦予語文教育的「國學經典」，各大書局爭相出版，商品性格顯露無遺。

The market for Chinese fiction rose when techniques of lead and stone printing were prominent, and until the twentieth century those techniques were able to satisfy popular demand. From 1919, however, various cultural and educational trends such as vernacular writing, new punctuation practices, reassessments of the national heritage, and the establishment of public education, combined to cause newly published editions of the Outlaws of the Marsh 水滸傳 to become more diverse in appearance and format. First of all, the Asia East edition of the text, which would come to be imitated by several other publishers, utilized new methods of punctuation and eliminated Jin’s critical remarks. With the rise of the vernacular writing movement, this version of the work became an important model of vernacular writing, especially in schools. Since vernacular writing textbooks for children were insufficient, teachers used fragments from story books as instructional materials. Selected readings from earlier novels were added to the Chinese curriculum in secondary and primary schools, which spurred the production of literary samplers and new versions of the original texts.
This in turn led to a thorough reassessment of the national heritage, and prompted the removal of obscenities and references to spirits, devils and violence from the stories in order to make them more suitable or children, teenagers and the general public. In short, as a result of these cultural and educational trends, Outlaws of the Marsh was transformed in the public consciousness from a work of “popular fiction” to a “classic of ancient Chinese civilization.” Publishers competed to put out new editions of the text and the commodification of the Outlaws of the Marsh became increasingly apparent.