Outlaws of the Marsh, attributed to Shi Nai'an (c. 1290–1365), additionally known as The Water Margin, was written in the fourteenth century about events of 200 years earlier in the late Northern Song dynasty.

A group of outlaws has rejected the culture of corrupt officials and banded together to form a Robin Hood-like society, in which they act gallantly, according to the rules of chivalry.