Gan Ji
| Gan Ji | |||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 干吉 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simplified Chinese | 干吉 | ||||||
| |||||||
Gan Ji (died 200) was a Taoist priest who lived during the late Han Dynasty period of Chinese history.
According to the Book of Later Han, during the reign of the Emperor Shun of Han (125 – 144), Gan Ji's disciples Gong Chong submitted the Taiping Qingling Shu to the emperor.
Some believe that the character Yu Ji (于吉) mentioned in Luo Guanzhong's historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms is a misspelling of Gan Ji.[1] In the novel, he wandered around the Jiangdong region, chatting with soldiers and civilians, making everyone believe that he was a magician and healer. The lord of Jiangdong, Sun Ce, heard of Yu Ji's magic and grew suspicious of him, thinking that he was casting spells on people. Sun accused Yu Ji of heresy and had him executed. However, Yu Ji's spirit returned to haunt Sun and eventually caused him to die from shock. Some people doubt that Yu Ji was not the same person as Gan Ji, based on Gan Ji's activities in the early 2nd century.
Many historians reject the account of Gan Ji and Sun Ce, suggesting that it is propaganda or just fiction. Reasons for this include Gan Ji's previously recorded activities (which would have made Gan Ji quite old by the time he even met Sun Ce). Only a select few historical texts mention Gan Ji being killed by Sun Ce. Of those that do, Gan Ji is not necessarily portrayed as an innocent victim; rather, in Jiangbiao Zhuan, Sun Ce believes that Gan Ji is misleading the people (Sun Ce was a strict Confucianist).[2]
In Dynasty Warriors 5 a stage is based on Sun Ce's confrontation with Yu Ji, a fictional event. In the stage Sun Ce has to fight Yu Ji clones, as well as a Da Qiao and Sun Jian clone. Along with another stage in Dynasty Warriors 7
The Shaw Brothers's film The Weird Man is based on him. He was put to death by Sun Ce and he later comes back as a ghost and wreaks havoc on Sun Ce for revenge by possessing his army and his wife. He also helped Sun Ce kill Xu Gong while killing Sun Ce in the process. In this film he is seen as the hero and Sun Ce the anti-hero. This was also shown again in the movie called Ninja in Ancient China.