Zhang Sanfeng
Owing to his legendary status, Zhang Sanfeng's name appears in Chinese "wuxia" novels, films and television series as a spiritual teacher and martial arts master and monk.. Zhang Sanfeng's popularity among the Chinese is also attributed to his personality and association with Confucianism and Taoism. The best known depiction of Zhang Sanfeng in fiction is probably in Jin Yong's "wuxia" novel "The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber", which is primarily set in the final years of the Yuan dynasty. In the novel, Zhang Sanfeng is a former Shaolin monk who founded the Wudang Sect based in the Wudang Mountains. He has seven apprentices, the "Seven Heroes of Wudang", one of whom is the father of the novel's protagonist, Zhang Wuji. According to many regional gazettes, Zhang Sanfeng was still alive in the reign of the Tianshun Emperor (r. 1457–1464) in the Ming dynasty, having lived for more than 200 years.