The 108 Heroes (一百零八條好漢) are the main characters of the Chinese classical novel Water Margin, which was written in the 14th century and attributed to Shi Nai'an. The heroes are divided into the 36 Heavenly Spirits and 72 Earthly Fiends, groups that are based on a belief in Daoism that Ursa Major has 36 heavenly stars and 72 earthly stars. The 108 Heroes represent 108 demons who were banished by Shangdi, a supreme deity in Chinese folk religion. Having repented since their banishment, the demons are released from imprisonment by accident, and are reborn in the world as 108 heroes who band together for the cause of justice. The bulk of the novel describes the lives of these men and women and how they came to come together at Liangshan Marsh to rebel against the corrupt officials controlling the government of the ruling Song dynasty.
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Appearances and mentions in other stories
The motif of pairings between 36 and 72 stars, possibly inspired from Dipper, were common among Chinese mythologies and folk tales, including Water Margin, which represented by the number of its protagonists. The religious theme of these 108 demons that incarnated into the 108 Liangshan bandits apparently drew inspiration from the 36 heavenly spirits and 72 earth fiends that also appeared in a later Chinese vernacular novel titled Fengshen Yanyi. In that novel, the 108 demons were gathered by Jiang Taigong to fight against King Zhou of Shang. Liu Ts'un-yan added that the motif of 108 stars (36 spirits and 72 fiends representatives) constellation which appeared in both works were influenced by Buddhism and Taoism.
One Heavenly Spirit, Lu Zhishen, is represented in a folktale as a sworn brother of Zhou Tong. Zai Zaotian (再造天, Rebuilding Heaven; published 1828) by Hou Zhi (侯芝, 1764–1829) mentions that Waguan Temple (瓦官寺) was once burned down by the monk Lu Zhishen but was later repaired.
According to The Oral Traditions of Yangzhou Storytelling, several popular folktales about Wu Song, a Heavenly Spirit, from the "Wang School" of Yangzhou storytelling, state that he killed the tiger "in the middle of the tenth month" of the "Xuanhe year [1119]" (the emphasis belongs to the original author).
In Louis Cha's wuxia novel The Legend of the Condor Heroes, Guo Sheng, an Earthly Fiend, is said to be the ancestor of the protagonist, Guo Jing.
Fictional stories and novels about Yue Fei
The Qing dynasty writer Qian Cai wrote the life story of Yue Fei and the outlaws Lin Chong and Lu Junyi in a Sin off story titled novel written by Qian Cai titled General Yue Fei (Chinese: 說岳全傳) (1684), which consisted of 80 chapters, 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. Additionally, the novla mentions about the partiicipation of one of the Liangshan outlaws, Huyan Zhuo, in a campaign under the lead of Yue Fei defending against thr invasion by the Jin dynasty. The novel tell the death of Huyan Zhuo on the hands of a Jin prince, Wuzhu, amid combat.
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.
More Modern literary fictional biography that linked Zhou Tong with the Liangshan outlaws was Iron Arm, Golden Sabre novel in 1986, a Modern novel prequel to The Story of Yue Fei. In the novel, Sun Li, an Earthly Fiend, is portrayed as a fellow student of Zhou Tong and Luan Tingyu. This novel later adapted into a ten volume Lianhuanhua-style comic book called The Legend of Zhou Tong in 1987.