Copper Bells are the conspicuous waist ornaments associated with Gan Ning’s earlier life in Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Their sound announces him before he comes into view, giving a small object unusual power as a personal signature.
Chapter 38 recalls how he gathered desperate followers and roamed the waterways wearing bells. People heard their ringing and kept away. The same introduction places the bells beside the rich display associated with his brocade-sail reputation.
The bells express swagger and the fear his name inspires. They preserve a trace of the river adventurer in the later military commander, without functioning as a magical instrument or requiring an invented arrangement of bells.
