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Literature

Jin Ping Mei is an erotic novel written under the pen-name Lanling Xiaoxiao Sheng (蘭陵笑笑生) ("The Scoffing Scholar of Lanling") in the late Ming dynasty. The novel is based on the story of Wu Song avenging his brother in Water Margin, but the focus is on Ximen Qing 's sexual relations with other women, including Pan Jinlian. In Water Margin, Ximen Qing is killed by Wu Song for murdering the latter's brother, while in Jin Ping Mei he dies a horrible death due to an accidental overdose of aphrodisiac pills.

Shuihu Houzhuan (水滸後傳), which roughly translates to The Later Story of Water Margin, is a novel written by Chen Chen (陳忱) in the Qing dynasty. The story is set after the end of the original Water Margin, with Li Jun as the protagonist. It tells of how the surviving Liangshan heroes are forced to become outlaws again due to corruption in the government. When the armies of the Jurchen -ruled Jin dynasty invade the Song dynasty, the heroes rise up to defend their nation from the invaders. The heroes eventually decide to leave China for good and sail to distant lands. Apart from the surviving Liangshan heroes from the original novel, Shuihu Houzhuan also introduces new characters such as Hua Rong 's son Hua Fengchun (花逢春), Xu Ning 's son Xu Sheng (徐晟) and Huyan Zhuo 's son Huyan Yu (呼延鈺).

It is difficult to exaggerate the importance of Chinese fiction and drama to the literary culture of early modern Japan. The rise to ubiquitous prominence of Chinese texts such as Shuihu zhuan, Xiyou ji (Journey to the West), and the short fiction of Feng Menglong (1574–1646) was a gradual occurrence.... From a certain vantage point, the Chinese novel Shuihu zhuan is a ubiquitous presence in the literary and visual culture of early modern Japan. Indeed, Japanese engagement with Shuihu zhuan is nearly coeval with the establishment of Tokugawa hegemony itself, as evidenced by the presence of a 1594 edition of the novel in the library of the Tendai abbot and adviser to the fledgling Tokugawa regime, Tenkai. Tenkai's death in 1643 provides us with a lower limit for dating the novel's importation into Japan, demonstrating the remarkable rapidity with which certain Chinese texts found their way into Japanese libraries.

Dang Kou Zhi (蕩寇志), which roughly translates to The Tale of Eliminating Bandits, is a novel written by Yu Wanchun (俞萬春) during the reign of the Daoguang Emperor in the Qing dynasty. Yu disagreed that the Liangshan outlaws are loyal and righteous heroes, and was determined to portray them as ruthless mass murderers and destroyers, hence he wrote Dang Kou Zhi. The novel, which starts at the Grand Assembly of the 108 outlaws at Liangshan Marsh, tells of how the outlaws plundered and pillaged cities before they are eventually eliminated by government forces led by Zhang Shuye (張叔夜) and his lieutenants Chen Xizhen (陳希真) and Yun Tianbiao (雲天彪).

The Qing dynasty writer Qian Cai intertwined the life stories of Yue Fei and the outlaws Lin Chong and Lu Junyi in The Story of Yue Fei (1684). He stated that the latter were former students of the general's martial arts tutor, Zhou Tong. However, literary critic C. T. Hsia commented that the connection was a fictional one created by the author. The Republican era folktale Swordplay Under the Moon, by Wang Shaotang, further intertwines Yue Fei's history with the outlaws by adding Wu Song to the list of Zhou's former students. The tale is set in the background of Wu Song's mission to Kaifeng, prior to the murder of his brother. Zhou tutors Wu in the "rolling dragon" style of swordplay during his one-month stay in the capital city. It also said that Zhou is a sworn brother of Lu Zhishen and shares the same nickname with the executioner-turned-outlaw Cai Fu.

Frank Chin 's novel, Donald Duk, contains many references to the Water Margin. Song Jiang and Li Kui make several appearances in the protagonist's dreams.

Rise of the Water Margin (水滸再起) is a novel launched in 2022 by the American author Christopher Bates in which all of the Chinese characters and their approximate character arcs are 21st century modernizations of people in The Water Margin. In this cyber-thriller, the characters of Lin Chong, Lu Da, Gao Qiu, Gao Yanei, Zhang Zhenniang, Fu An, Cai Jing, Chai Jin, Wang Lun, Zhu Gui, Zhao Ji, Li Shishi and many others appear. The location of Liangshanpo is a deserted ghost city known to its investors as Mount Liang Swamp, repurposed as a hacker enclave.

Eiji Yoshikawa wrote Shin Suikoden (新水滸伝), which roughly translates to "New Tales from the Water Margin".

The Water Outlaws, a novel by S. L. Huang, is a gender-flipped version of the story in which the outlaws are queer women.

In addition to its colossal popularity in China, Water Margin has been identified as one of the most influential works in the development of early modern Japanese literature.