The sword has a long pedigree in Chinese culture. Well before the birth of Christ, entire chapters were devoted to it in such classics as Zhuangzi and the Records of the Grand Historian. And legends of great swordsmen have proliferated ever since then on stage and in literature.
刀光劍影的綠林傳奇，在文學素材上可以直接上溯到戰國時《莊子》的〈說劍篇〉、史記的游俠與刺客列傳，以至唐代傳奇、宋代話本和清代公案故事，一直到近代和當代的武俠小說。