Shī Nài’ān 施耐庵 is the conventional attributed primary author of the Shuǐhǔ Zhuàn 水滸傳 KR4k0066, one of the canonical Chinese vernacular novels. Almost nothing about his life is independently verifiable. No biography survives in any standard historical record, no contemporary source identifies him as the author, and his very existence as a figure distinct from the novelist Luó Guànzhōng 羅貫中 羅貫中 has been questioned by modern scholars. CBDB records an entry (id 511354) for Shī Nài’ān but without birth or death years or any biographical details.
Traditional accounts — largely of Míng and Qīng provenance — describe him as a Yuán-dynasty scholar-official from Xīngshuāng 興化 in Jiāngsū who failed to thrive in official service and retired to compose the novel. These accounts are not corroborated by contemporary evidence. The earliest extant dated printed edition of the Shuǐhǔ Zhuàn appears in 1589 (Wànlì 17th year); the colophons of some editions name both Shī Nài’ān as original author and Luó Guànzhōng as reviser, a formula that may reflect the editorial conventions of Ming commercial publishing rather than historical fact.