“Water Margin” (Traditional Chinese: 水滸傳, Simplified: 水滸传; pinyin: shuǐ hǔ zhuàn; Wade-Giles: Shui Hu Zhuan) is a 14th-century Chinese classic novel based on popular legends about the exploits and adventures of the 108 “noble bandits”—rebels from the camp of Song Jiang on Mount Liangshanbo (Shandong Province) during the reign of the eighth emperor of the Song dynasty—Huizong (1124–1127). “Water Margin” is the first historical novel of the genre in the history of uся. One of the four great classical Chinese novels. Contemporary readers classified it as xiaoshuo—an inferior, popular genre of unpretentious prose—contrasted with canonical Confucian works. Over time, the book’s authority grew. Scholars characterize it as an adventure-historical work, noting its outstanding literary qualities.