Sun Quan's University

Sun Quan, the founder of Eastern Wu, was privately a 'big boy' full of curiosity for rare and exotic creatures. An official from Jiaozhou (present-day Vietnam and the Guang regions) presented Sun Quan with a giant yet docile Southern Elephant as tribute. Sun Quan grew very fond of this elephant, specially creating a spacious garden in Jianye (present-day Nanjing) for it to reside in. Whenever Sun Quan finished his arduous administrative duties, he would bring fruits to the garden to visit the elephant, personally feeding it sugarcane and bananas. The elephant also became very close to Sun Quan, and upon seeing him approach, it would happily raise its trunk and emit joyful semicolon sounds. This heartwarming interaction between a monarch and an elephant, transcending species, became a delightful anecdote passed down in the court of Eastern Wu.