In the Water Margin, the fugitive Lin Chong comes to the outlaws of Liangshan and asks to join them. The innkeeper Zhu Gui tells him what is required. He must go down the mountain, kill a man and bring back his head, and then the chief will have no doubts about him. “This is called the toumingzhuang” (投名状), the pledge that enters one’s name.
The chief, Wang Lun, gives Lin Chong three days to bring one.