Cai Xiang

Life

He passed the jinshi examination in 1030. During the Mingdao era he served in Zhangzhou, later became judicial assistant to the Xijing Military Governor, and entered the Palace Library as a collator. In 1036, when Fan Zhongyan, Yu Jing, and others were demoted for remonstrating, Cai wrote 《四賢一不肖詩》 in praise of Fan and the others while attacking the remonstrator Gao Ruone, and his name became widely known.

In 1043 he became Director of the Bureau of Remonstrance, was appointed to the Historiographical Institute, and helped compile the Daily Records. He supported the Qingli reforms and argued fearlessly on affairs of state. The following year, because his mother was old, he requested the prefecture of Fuzhou and was transferred as Transit Commissioner of the Fujian Circuit; in 1052 he was promoted to Palace Attendant and Drafter of Edicts, concurrently supervising the personnel office, and returned appointments whenever they did not accord with the imperial intent.

During the Zhihe era he served as prefect of Kaifeng, Fuzhou, and Quanzhou. In 1054 he became Academician of the Longtuge and prefect of Kaifeng, later serving again as prefect of Fuzhou as an Academician of the Privy Council before being transferred to Quanzhou. In 1060 he was summoned as a Hanlin Academician and acting prefect of Kaifeng, then promoted to Commissioner of the Three Financial Agencies, a post held in 1062–1064. In 1065, as Academician of the Duanming Hall, he became prefect of Hangzhou; he died in 1067 at the age of fifty-six.

His other recorded offices included military judge in Zhangzhou, judicial assistant to the Xijing Military Governor, Collator in the Palace Library, Secretary, Palace Recorder, Right Remonstrator, Palace Attendant, Supervisor of the personnel office, and concurrently Commissioner of the Three Financial Agencies and Military Governor of Nanjing and prefect of Yingtiān; he also held such titles as Light-Chariot Commandant, Junior Preceptor, and the Three Institutes.

Local administration and engineering

As Transit Commissioner of the Fujian Circuit, he opened five ponds for irrigation and petitioned that the poll tax on adult males be reduced by half. As prefect of Quanzhou, he built Wan'an Bridge across Quanzhou Bay; the bridge was 360 zhang long and held an important place in the history of Chinese bridges.

Calligraphy and literature

Cai excelled in calligraphy, and his poetry and prose were noted for their refinement. He was a friend of Ouyang Xiu, and both Ouyang Xiu and Su Shi held his calligraphy in high esteem. He studied the Sage of Calligraphy and the Yan-Liu tradition; Su Shi ranked his running script first, followed by his regular script and then his cursive script. In the history of calligraphy he was grouped with Su Shi, Huang Tingjian, and Mi Fu as the Four Great Calligraphers, and is also described as one of the four great calligraphers of the Northern Song. His surviving ci lyric includes 《好事近》.

Writings

His works include 《茶錄》, 《荔枝譜》, 《龍壽丹記》, and 《蔡忠惠集》; 《端明集》 also survives in a forty-scroll edition. His poetry is arranged in nine scrolls, with an additional scroll of poems outside the collection, while 《蔡忠惠集》 circulated in such editions as thirty-six and forty scrolls.

Three poems—《度南澗》, 《入天竺山留客》, and 《十二日晚》—were once included under Zhang Xu's name in 《萬首唐人絕句》. A note in 《蔡忠惠詩集》 treats this as Hong Mai's mistaken attribution, while retaining the arrangement.

Family and posthumous honors

His father was Cai Xiu and his father-in-law was Ge Weiming. His younger brothers included Cai Gao and Cai Mao; his sons were Cai Yun (1038–1055), Cai Xun, and Cai Min (d. 1091). His descendants included the grandsons Cai Zhou and Cai Chuan, the great-grandsons Cai Guang and Cai Mao, the fourth-generation descendants Cai Kan and Cai Yiguo, the sixth-generation descendants Cai Xian and Cai Deyan, the eighth-generation descendant Cai Xiao, and the direct-line descendant Cai Lian.

After his death he was granted an official rank variously given as Vice Minister of Rites or Vice Minister of Personnel. During the Qiandao era he received the posthumous name Zhonghui and was buried at Cailing in Fengting.