active 16th century Damu Xiong

Xiong Damu was a Chinese writer and compiler active in the 16th century during the Ming dynasty. He is associated with a number of popular historical saga novels, including works connected with stories of the Song dynasty and the Yang family generals.

Modern literary historians generally describe him less as an original novelist than as a practical compiler and bookmaker. He appears to have assembled episodes from different sources, arranged them into flowing narrative form, and filled gaps with material drawn from historical texts. That method may sound mechanical, but it helped preserve and spread stories that became well known in later Chinese popular literature.

Very little is firmly known about his personal life. Some modern scholars believe he may have been connected with the book trade, possibly as a bookstore keeper or publisher, which fits the strongly commercial, reader-friendly character of the works linked to his name.