Guan Ning 管寧

Guan Ning, courtesy name Youan, was a man of Zhuxu County in the state of Beihai. He lost his father at sixteen, and though his relatives, pitying him for being orphaned and poor, sent gifts for the funeral, he declined them all and buried his father according to his own means. He was eight chi tall with a fine beard and eyebrows. He befriended Hua Xin of Pingyuan and Bing Yuan of the same county, studied in other states together with them, and all of them revered and admired Chen Zhonggong. The biography of Bing Yuan records that in his youth Bing Yuan was renowned together with Guan Ning for integrity and conduct. Records, Wei 11 §76 · 68

When the realm fell into great chaos, Guan Ning, hearing that Gongsun Du's orders held sway beyond the sea, went to Liaodong with Bing Yuan, Wang Lie and others. The biography of Guo Yuan records that Guo Yuan, too, took refuge from the turmoil in Liaodong together with Bing Yuan, Guan Ning and others. Gongsun Du kept a guesthouse empty awaiting them, but after meeting him Guan Ning built a thatched hut in a mountain valley and lived there. Most of those who had fled the turmoil lived in the south of the commandery, but Guan Ning lived in the north, showing that he had no intention of moving, and people gradually came to follow him. When Cao Cao became Minister of Works he summoned him, but Gongsun Du's son Gongsun Kang blocked the order and did not make it known. Records, Wei 11 §76–77 · 29

When the central lands had become somewhat settled and the outsiders had all gone home, Guan Ning alone lived on there as though he meant to end his days there. In the 4th year of Huangchu (223), when the high ministers were ordered to recommend gentlemen of singular conduct, the Minister over the Masses Hua Xin recommended Guan Ning, and when Emperor Wen, Cao Pi, summoned him, Guan Ning took his household across the sea and returned to his home commandery. Gongsun Gong saw him off as far as the southern outskirts and gave him clothing and goods in addition. While in Liaodong, Guan Ning had accepted and stored away all the things given him by Gongsun Du, Gongsun Kang and Gongsun Gong, and after crossing back to the west he sealed them all up and returned them. Records, Wei 11 §80Records, Wei 13 §36

He was appointed Grand Palace Grandee (taizhong dafu) by edict, but he firmly declined and did not accept. When Emperor Ming, Cao Rui, came to the throne, the Grand Commandant Hua Xin wished to step down and yield his post to Guan Ning, and Cao Rui issued an edict making Guan Ning Superintendent of the Imperial Household (guanglu xun), saying that summonses had been sent many times since Huangchu but that each time he had pleaded illness and not come, and that he should come quickly. He also issued an edict to the Inspector of Qing Province to provide a comfortable carriage, attendant officials, cushions and bedding and food on the road, and to send him off with full courtesy. Records, Wei 11 §81–84Records, Wei 13 §36

Calling himself 'a subject of the grass and thickets', Guan Ning submitted a memorial. He wrote that he had fallen into a deep illness and had long been bedridden, and that he had received an edict summoning him in the 11th month of the 1st year and, in the 2nd month of this year, even a sealed letter making him Superintendent of the Imperial Household, for which he was filled with awe. Having gained a place among the Nine Ministers without virtue or merit, he feared disaster, and with age and illness growing worse by the day he could not be helped into a carriage and set out on the road; he begged that the favour be withdrawn and that he be released. Records, Wei 11 §85–88

From the Huangchu era to the Qinglong era summonses followed one after another, and every 8th month he was granted oxen and wine. When an edict asked Cheng Xi, Inspector of Qing Province, whether Guan Ning was holding to his integrity to exalt himself or was truly old and ill, Cheng Xi reported what he had observed through Guan Gong (管貢), a provincial officer of Guan Ning's clan who lived next door to him. Guan Ning always wore a black cap and cloth clothes and walked about leaning on a staff by himself; at the sacrifices of the four seasons he wore the white cloth unlined robe he had worn in Liaodong and offered the food himself, and since he had lost his mother young and did not know what she looked like, he always offered an extra cup and shed tears. Cheng Xi said that Guan Ning was not trying to maintain his loftiness but was humbly withdrawing because he felt that in old age his wisdom had declined. According to the biography of Lu Yu, when the post of Minister over the Masses fell vacant, Lu Yu recommended the recluse scholar Guan Ning, but the emperor could not employ him. Records, Wei 11 §89–90Records, Wei 22 §102

In the 2nd year of Zhengshi (241), the Minister Coachman Taoqiu Yi, the Commandant of the Guards of the Yongning Palace Meng Guan, the Palace Attendant Sun Yong and the Attendant Gentleman of the Secretariat Wang Ji recommended Guan Ning. They said that in the Zhongping era he had fled the Yellow Turban rebellion, crossed the sea and lived in Liaodong for more than thirty years, and that now his long illness had healed and even at eighty his will had not flagged; living in a cramped house and eating gruel once every two days, he still recited the Odes and the Documents and would not exchange that joy for anything. With a post among the Three Excellencies vacant, they said, he ought to be invited with full courtesy, and if he held to his resolve to the end, that too would be a way of honouring worthy men. Records, Wei 11 §91–94 · 96–97

The court thereupon specially prepared a comfortable carriage with its wheels wrapped in rushes and, with bundles of silk and a jade disc, sent to invite him, but just then Guan Ning died, at the age of eighty-four. His son Guan Miao was appointed Gentleman of the Palace (langzhong) and later became an Erudite. Earlier, when Guan Ning's wife died before him, his acquaintances and friends urged him to remarry, but he would not listen, saying that he had always admired the words of Zengzi and Wang Jun, and asking whether he should go against his own heart now that he found himself in the same situation. Records, Wei 11 §98

In his assessment, Chen Shou wrote that Guan Ning was profound, refined and lofty, firm and unshakable. Records, Wei 11 §111