The Chinese novel entitled Water Margin (Shui Hu Zhuan, sometimes abbreviated to Shui Hu), attributed to Shi Nai'an, is also translated as Outlaws of the Marsh, Tale of the Marshes, All Men Are Brothers, Men of the Marshes, or The Marshes of Mount Liang.

Considered one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature, the novel is written in vernacular Chinese rather than Classical Chinese.

The story, set in the Song dynasty, tells of how a group of outlaws gathers at Mount Liang (or Liangshan Marsh) to form a sizable army before they are eventually granted amnesty by the government and sent on campaigns to resist foreign invaders and suppress rebel forces.

It will introduce to readers many of the most well known characters in Chinese literature, such as Wu Song, Lin Chong and Lu Zhishen.

Stories about the outlaws became a popular subject for Yuan dynasty drama.

During this time, the material on which Water Margin is based evolves into what it is in the present.

The number of outlaws increases to 108.

Even though they came from different backgrounds (including scholars, fishermen, imperial drill instructors etc.), all of them eventually came to occupy Mount Liang (or Liangshan Marsh).

There is a theory that Water Margin became popular during the Yuan era as the common people (predominantly Han Chinese) resented the Mongol 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.