Cai Kelian

Life

His great-grandfather was Cai Shen (蔡紳), his grandfather Cai Kuan (蔡寬), and his father Cai You (蔡祐); his mother was a woman of the Bao (包) family, and so was his stepmother. Third in birth order among his brothers, he had two elder brothers, Cai Kejing (蔡克敬) and Cai Jingcheng (蔡敬誠), and a younger brother, Cai Kexi (蔡克熙); he married a woman of the Liu (留) family.

He received the jinshi degree in 1529, the eighth year of the Jiajing reign, ranking fiftieth in the second class; accounts of his provincial and metropolitan examination placings differ, one version making him thirty-seventh in the Fujian provincial examination and fifty-eighth in the metropolitan examination.

He was first appointed a secretary in the Ministry of Justice, rising to bureau director; in the tenth month of 1536 he was demoted to vice-prefect of Guangde because of the case of Zhang Yanling (張延齡). He afterwards rose to bureau director of the Hosts Bureau in the Ministry of Rites. In the seventh month of 1540 he was promoted to assistant surveillance commissioner of Guizhou with charge of schools, and returned home to observe mourning for his father. In the sixth month of 1544 he was reappointed assistant education commissioner of Jiangxi and promoted to education vice-commissioner of Guangdong; he went on to serve as right administration vice-commissioner of Zhejiang, and as surveillance commissioner and right administration commissioner of Jiangxi, and right assistant censor-in-chief in charge of river defence at Nanjing. In the seventh month of 1553 he was impeached and returned home to await investigation.

In the sixth month of 1555 he was recalled as grand coordinator of Jiangxi, and in the sixth month of 1556 he succeeded the ailing Chen Ru (陳儒) as director-general of grain transport and grand coordinator of Fengyang, holding the title of right vice censor-in-chief of the Censorate. In the third month of 1557 he was promoted to right vice minister of revenue and in the fourth month to left vice minister; in the seventh month of 1559 he became minister of revenue at Nanjing. In the third month of 1560 he was dismissed from office over the mutiny of the Zhenwu Camp, and he died soon afterwards.

Associations

Cai Kelian was known for his literary gifts together with his fellow Jinjiang man Wang Shenzhong (王慎中), and Tang Shunzhi (唐順之) praised his conduct in office. He exchanged letters with Zhang Yue (張岳), Feng En (馮恩), Ouyang De (歐陽德), Wang Zongmu (王宗沐), Jiang Bao (姜寶), Chen Ru (陳儒), Cai Runan (蔡汝楠) and Xu Xianzhong (徐獻忠), among others, and received poems and writings from Tang Shunzhi and Luo Hongxian (羅洪先), among others. He wrote sacrificial addresses for Hu Juren (胡居仁), Huo Tao (霍韜), Tang Long (唐龍), Zhou Tianzuo (周天佐), Gu Po (顧珀) and others, a school record for Xia Yan (夏言), and prefaces for the writings of Fu Ruzhou (傅汝舟) and for a book by Fu Fengxiang (傅鳳翔); he also left congratulatory pieces and farewell addresses. A preface to his own collection was written by He Qiaoyuan (何喬遠).

Works

He was the author of the Kequan ji (可泉集) in fifteen juan, also known as the Kequan xiansheng wenji (可泉先生文集).