Water Margin (simplified Chinese: 水浒传;  pinyin: Shui hu Zhuan) (also known as Outlaws of the Marsh, All Men Are Brothers or The Marshes of Mount Liang) is one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature. The novel details the trials and tribulations of 108 outlaws during the mid Song Dynasty.

Historical context and development of Water Margin

Water Margin is vaguely based on the historical outlaw Song Jiang and his 36 companions. The group was active in the Huai River region and surrendered to the government in 1121.

Folk stories of Song Jiang circulated during the Southern Song Dynasty. The first text to name Song Jiang's thirty-six companions was the 13th century Miscellaneous Observations from the Year Guixin by Zhou Mi. Among the thirty-six were Lu Junyi, Guan Sheng, Ruan Xiaoer, Ruan Xiaowu, Ruan Xiaoqi, Liu Tang, Hua Rong and Wu Yong. Some of the characters who later became associated with Song Jiang also appeared around this time. They include Sun Li, Yang Zhi, Lin Chong, Lu Zhishen and Wu Song.

A direct precursor of Water Margin was the Old incidents in Xuanhe period of the great Song Dynasty, which appeared around the mid-13th century. The text was basically a written version of storytellers' tales, based loosely on historical events. It is divided into ten chapters, roughly covering the history of the Song Dynasty from the early 11th century to the establishment of the Southern Song regime in 1127. The fourth chapter covers the adventures of Song Jiang and his 36 companions, and their eventual defeat by Zhang Shuye. Some of the more well-known stories and characters of the Water Margin are clearly visible, including "Yang Zhi sells the precious saber", "Robbing the convoy of birthday gifts", "Song Jiang kills Yan Poxi", "Fighting Fang La" etc. Song Jiang and his outlaws were said to operate in the Taihang Mountains. The band ran the gamut from fishermen to ex imperial drill instructors to inn-keepers and so on.

Stories about the outlaws of Mount Liang became a popular subject for Yuan Dynasty drama. During this time the material on which the Water Margin was based evolved into what it is today. The number of outlaws increased to 108. Even though they came from different backgrounds, all of them eventually came to occupy Mount Liang. There is a theory that Water Margin became popular during the Yuan Dynasty as the common people (predominantly Han Chinese) resented the Mongolian rulers. The outlaws' rebellion was deemed "safe" to promote as it was supposedly a negative reflection of the fallen Song Dynasty. Concurrently, the rebellion was also a call for the common people to rise up against corruption in the government. Chongzhen Emperor banned the book to suppress rebels as per his official's advice but his rule was too short.

Authorship and early editions

There is some considerable debate on who the author of Water Margin was. Most believe that the first 70 chapters were written by Shi Nai'an, while the last 30 chapters were written by Luo Guanzhong (the author of Romance of the Three Kingdoms). Luo may have been a student of Shi Nai'an. It has also been suggested that Shi Nai'an did not exist but was merely a pseudonym for Luo Guanzhong himself.

Evidence from the text itself strongly suggest that the author was a native of Zhejiang province (as both Luo and Shi were) who had little knowledge of northern China. At a 2006 conference, some leading Water Margin scholars agreed that Shi and Luo were the same person. When the name "Shi Nai'an" is written reversely, it reads "An Nai Shi", which is colloquially translated as "It is I again."

It is not clear how close Luo's edition was to those that are known today. The earliest extant edition of Water Margin is a 100-chapter printed text dating from the mid-16th century. Another edition, with 120 chapters by Yang Dingjian, has been preserved from the Wanli era (1573–1620). Yet other editions were published since this era to the early Qing Dynasty, including a 70-chapter edition by Jin Shengtan.