Talk:Gan Ning

I presume this is where people who want to add stuff to the Wiki give their thoughts. So here's the incident with Lü Meng in SGZ: 寧厨下兒曾有過，走投呂蒙. 蒙恐寧殺之，故不即還. 後寧齎禮禮蒙母，臨當與升堂，乃出厨下兒還寧. 寧許蒙不殺. 斯須還船，縛置桑樹，自挽弓射殺之. 畢，勑船人更增舸纜，解衣卧船中. 蒙大怒，擊鼓會兵，欲就船攻寧. 寧聞之，故卧不起. 蒙母徒跣出諫蒙曰：「至尊待汝如骨肉，屬汝以大事，何有以私怒而欲攻殺甘寧？寧死之日，縱至尊不問，汝是爲臣下非法. 」蒙素至孝，聞母言，即豁然意釋，自至寧舩，笑呼之曰：「興霸，老母待卿食，急上！」寧涕泣歔欷曰：「負卿. 」與蒙俱還見母，歡宴竟日.

And here's my translation, with some bolding to indicate where I think the Koei wiki article could be improved:

[Gan] Ning’s kitchen boy [more on this in a minute] committed a fault, and ran to throw himself on Lü Meng’s mercy. [Lü] Meng was afraid [Gan] Ning would kill him, therefore he would not return him. Later [Gan] Ning brought many gifts to [Lü] Meng’s mother, going up to the house in person, so that the kitchen boy would be returned to [Gan] Ning. [Gan] Ning promised [Lü] Meng that he wouldn’t kill him. On the way back to the boat, [Gan Ning] tied [the servant] to a mulberry tree, and he himself drew the bow to shoot him dead. That accomplished, he ordered his boatmen to lengthen the mooring rope, and laid down in the boat with his clothes loosened. [Lü] Meng was enraged. He hit the drum to summon soldiers, and immediately went to the boat to attack [Gan] Ning. When [Gan] Ning heard it, he didn’t get up. [Lü] Meng’s mother ran out barefoot and scolded [Lü] Meng saying: “Our lord has treated you as his flesh and blood, giving you dominion over great things, so how can you kill Gan Ning out of your own personal anger? If [Gan] Ning dies today, even if our lord ignores it, you will have broken the law.” [Lü] Meng was always extremely filial. He listened to his mother’s words, and in a flash he comprehended their meaning. He went personally to [Gan] Ning’s boat, and called out to him laughing: “Xingba [Gan Ning’s style name, used between peers; here shows affection or comradery], my mom’s got food ready, hurry up!” [Gan] Ning shed tears, snorted, and sobbed, saying, “I let you down.” Then he went back together with [Lü] Meng to see his mother, and they feasted all day.

So here's the points I want to make, one is that even though I'm fine with "kitchen boy" as a translation since it does seem to be a minor servant, the original Chinese doesn't imply childhood. "Kitchen servant" would be a more cautious translation (that's what main Wikipedia is currently using). Second point is that everything happens very fast. Gan Ning kills the servant right after getting him back. Lü Meng didn't wait for his soldiers to get there before he went after Gan Ning, and his mother was so urgent about it that she ran after him without stopping to put her shoes on. Third is that Koei wiki mentions a nap, you can argue that Gan Ning loosening/taking his clothes off and lying down implies same, but it doesn't state it. Fourth is the way Lü Meng spoke to Gan Nin is very affectionate and the language used to describe Gan Ning's crying is very intense. This is the end of the incident as recorded in the SGZ so I'm not sure where the Wiki got the thing about Gan Ning expressing gratitude to Lü Meng's mother came from.

I find this a really interesting story as written, I'll be the first to tell you that it has a lot of possible interpretations. I also think it's interesting that Gan Ning has one of the longest sections for a Wu officer in the SGZ. Clearly people have always loved talking about him. Fineillsignup (talk) 04:34, March 23, 2019 (UTC)