Cai Xiang

Cai Xiang

Cai Xiang (March 7, 1012 to September 27, 1067) was named Junmo. He was born in lianjiangli, Tang'an Township, Xianyou County, Xinghua army. He was a famous official, calligrapher, litterateur and tea expert in the Northern Song Dynasty.

In 1030, Cai xiangdeng became a Jinshi in the eighth year of Tiansheng. He successively held the posts of Guan Ge collation, Zhi Jian Yuan, Zhi Shi Guan, Zhi Zhi Gao, LongTuge Zhishi, Privy Council Zhishi, Hanlin Zhishi and so on. When he was an admonitor, he was famous for his outspokenness. After several times out, learned Quanzhou, Fuzhou, Kaifeng government affairs. After he ascended the throne, song Yingzong was granted three secretaries and then went out to Hangzhou as a scholar of Duanming palace. In 1067, Cai Xiang died. He was awarded the title of "Zhonghui" to Shaoshi.

Cai Xiang was an upright official, and he made achievements wherever he went. When he was in Fuzhou, he took charge of the construction of Luoyang Bridge with Lu Xi; when he was in Quanzhou, he advocated planting seven hundred Li post road pine from Fuzhou to Zhangzhou, and presided over the production of Beiyuan tribute tea "Xiaolong group". The book "Cha Lu" summarizes the experience of tea making and tea tasting in ancient times, while "Li Chi Pu" is praised as "the first work of fruit tree taxonomy in the world". Cai Xiang is one of the "four schools of the Song Dynasty" for his elegant poetry, elegant calligraphy, simple and graceful beauty. There are "Cai Zhonghui collection" and other handed down.

(source: Portrait of CAI Xiang painted by Qing Dynasty)

Life of the characters

Talent in Fujian

Cai Xiang was born in Jiaoxi, yirenlichu, Tangan Township, Xianyou County (now ronglinkeng, Wuxing village, jiushe village, Fengting Town, Xianyou County) on February 12, the fifth year of dazhongxiangfu (March 7, 1012). Xun moved with his father Cai Xiu to niuxieting mountain, lianjiangli, Tangan Township, Xianyou County (now caikeng village, jiushe village, Fengting Town, Xianyou County). Cai Xiang's mother, Lu, is the daughter of Lu Ren, a famous Hui'an scholar.

Cai Xiang was strictly educated by his grandfather Lu Ren in his childhood. At the age of 15, he took part in the local examination. At the age of 18, he visited the capital and went to the Imperial College for further study. In 1030, he took part in the Kaifeng rural examination and won the first prize.

On not avoiding things

In 1031, Cai xiangdeng was the tenth Jinshi. The next year, he was awarded Zhangzhou military judge, serving for four years. Later, he successively held the posts of Tui Guan, Guan Ge collation and so on.

In 1043, ministers Fan Zhongyan, Fu Bi, Han Qi, and Du Yan were in power at the same time. Ouyang Xiu, Wang Su, and Yu Jing were all remonstrators. Cai Xiang wrote poems to celebrate. Recommended by Ouyang Xiu and others, he was appointed as "Zhijian Yuan" by song Renzong. He never evades anything and is loyal and sincere. Most of them are related to the advantages and disadvantages of the world. Cai Xiang believed that the safety of a country depends on the personnel, and the monarch should know people well and distinguish between evil and right. Because there are people like Cai Xiang who speak out and dare to remonstrate, those dignitaries are afraid and tend to be restrained.

Know fortune well

Qingli four years (1044), transferred to Fuzhou. In the autumn of 1046, he was transferred to Fujian road transportation envoy.

When Cai Xiang was in Fuzhou, when he saw that the common people were ill and did not seek medical treatment, he begged to worship the wizard. Most of them were harmed by poisonous insects. He wrote a preface to the holy Hui prescription, which was printed on the stele to persuade the sick to seek medical treatment, and took measures to ban the wizard. "The prohibition is very strict. If there are more than a few hundred families, we will have a rest later." Cai Xiang also wrote five commandments in Fuzhou to get rid of vulgar customs. Cai Xiang advocated officials to mobilize the people to plant pine trees on both sides of the avenue from Dayi in Fuzhou to Quanzhou and Zhangzhou, which covered the avenue. Therefore, the folk song says: "Jiadao pine, Jiadao pine, ask who planted it, I, Cai Gong; pedestrians do not know the heat in June, shake the wind forever.".

In 1048, Cai Xiang left because of his father's death.

In the first year of Jiayou (1056), Cai Xiang knew Fuzhou again. During his term of office, he encouraged people to learn to do good, spread prescriptions to cure poisonous insects, educated people to do good according to the law, changed bad habits, and supervised officials, which won the hearts of the people.

From 1054 to 1063, Cai Xiang knew Quanzhou twice. The first time was from February of the third year of Zhihe to June of the first year of Jiayou, and the second time was from July of the second year of Jiayou to autumn of the fifth year of Jiayou. When Cai Xiang took office in Quanzhou, he first rectified the administration of officials. At that time, Zhang Gong, the magistrate of Jinjiang County, was corrupt and perverted the law. Cai Xiang impeached him and dismissed him from office for the people. Later, the court found that this was an unjust case, so Cai Xiang was demoted. He also built cities and towns along the coast of Haizhou to strengthen military defense, teach boats to memorize water potential and guard against pirates. In the eastern suburb of Quanzhou City, there is Luoyang River. The downstream estuary is five li wide. There is a ferry named Wan'an ferry. "Every storm, a few days can not cross", "drowned boat drowned, the dead are not counted.". In addition, the government asked Zhang, Quan and Xing to reduce half of their body money, greatly reducing the burden of the people.

During the Quanzhou period, Cai Xiangzhi suffered from drought year after year. He mobilized people's strength, strengthened water source management, formulated Guihu pond regulation, and stopped water disputes. During his term as a transit envoy, he visited Yiquan in xiaowushi mountain in the south of the county and informed the local officials of Quanzhou to manage it well for the people to drink and irrigate the fields. During the reign of Zhiping (1064-1067), Wang Kejun, the magistrate of Jinjiang County, carved the word "Cai Gongquan" on the cliff as a memorial.

In charge of the third division

In the third year of emperor you's reign (1051), Cai Xiang went back to the court to revise the notes on daily life and participated in political affairs. In the following year, he moved to the living room, knew how to make a patent, and judged and annotated it.

In 1061, Cai Xiang was awarded the title of Hanlin bachelor and Quanli third secretary, who was in charge of the finance of the imperial court. At this time, the financial income of the Song Dynasty was not enough to make ends meet. Cai Xiang is good at financial management. "Compared with the rest of the world, he is able to control income and use it. It can be used to delimit the beetles, to record the outline of the book, and to know the details.

Self employment

Song Yingzong succeeded to the throne and formally appointed Cai Xiang as the third secretary. Cai Xiang wrote the article Guolun Yaomu, which expounded the reform ideas, and put forward the reform plan of selecting officials, appointing talents, eliminating redundant, distinguishing evil and sycophantic, rectifying punishment, restraining annexation, enriching the country and strengthening the army, but it was not adopted by Yingzong. In 1065, Cai Xiang went out to Hangzhou and took office after paying homage to the Bachelor of Duanming palace.

An Shi at home

In October of the third year of Zhiping (1066), Lu's family died, and Cai Xianghu died and returned to the south.

Cai Xiang died on August 16 (September 27) in the fourth year of Zhiping (1067) at the age of 56. The imperial court pursued and presented it to the Minister of the Ministry of official affairs, and then to the Shaoshi. Buried in Cailing, Putou village, Fengting. Ouyang Xiu, a friend, wrote for him the epitaph of CAI Gongmu, a scholar of Duanming palace.

In the third year of Chunxi reign of emperor Xiaozong of Song Dynasty (1176), his great grandson Cai Wei was granted the posthumous title of "Zhonghui".

During the Qingyuan period of ningzong of Song Dynasty (1195-1200), the temple of CAI Xiang was built at the end of Qiaonan street in Luoyang. In front of his tomb, posterity inscribed a couplet: "four admonishments to the state, the former Fangxing hanging down in history; Wan'an helping the masses, the present ancient road is solemn."

Main impact

Calligraphy

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In the history of calligraphy, there are four famous calligraphers, Su, Huang, MI and CAI, who are regarded as the typical representatives of Song Dynasty calligraphy style. Among the four schools of Song Dynasty, the first three are Su Shi (Dongpo), Huang Tingjian (FUWENG) and Mi Fu (Xiangyang Manshi). Among the four families in Song Dynasty, Cai Xiang should be older than Su, Huang and MI. From the perspective of calligraphy style, Su Shi is plump and full of ups and downs; Huang Tingjian is vertical and horizontal; Mi Fu is bold and unconstrained. Their calligraphy style is unique. Su, Huang and MI are good at cursive and regular script, but Cai Xiang likes to write regular script.

Cai Xiang is good at regular script, running script and cursive script. His calligraphy is rich and dignified, simple and graceful. The exhibition of CAI Xiang's calligraphy is full of beautiful and elegant atmosphere. Cai Xiang's calligraphy was highly praised by his contemporaries during his lifetime. Su Shi and Ouyang Xiu are the most respected calligraphers. Su Shi pointed out in Dongpo inscriptions and postscripts: "only Cai Junmo had high talent, deep accumulation of knowledge, corresponding heart and hand, infinite metamorphosis, so he was the first in this dynasty. However, running script is the best, followed by regular script and cursive script He also tasted the meaning of flying white, and said that he had the potential of dancing dragons and phoenixes. Those who knew him didn't think it was too much. " Ouyang Xiu's evaluation of CAI Xiang's calligraphy is really beyond comparison: Ouyang Xiu said: "since Su Zimei's death, he felt that his writing skills were excellent. In recent years, Junmo has been on his own, but he is modest and refuses to lead the alliance. " Huang Tingjian also said: "Su Zimei and CAI Junmo are heroes of calligraphy." (collected works of Valley) Shen Kuo commented on Cai Xiang's cursive script in MengXiBiTan that "the cursive script is composed of scattered brushwork, which is called scattered brushwork, or flying brushwork. Its method is born in feibai, and it has its own family. It has the ancient charm of Zhang Xu and Huai Su. It has the tendency of changing, and it's elegant and ancient "The biography of CAI Xiang in the history of Song Dynasty" said: "Xianggong was the best in calligraphy, and he was loved by benevolent families." Xu Jiang said in the biography of CAI Xiang: "the public cherishes his calligraphy and painting, and does not act rashly. His fragmentary manuscripts are treasured by people, and Renzong is especially fond of them." Zhu Changwen's xushuduan: "Cai Xiang's books are self cherished, and they are not light books. Renzong deeply loves his trace He wrote the inscription "empress Wen Cheng's stele" and wrote it, but Junmo refused to write it. "

From the above three paragraphs, we can know that Cai Xiang's calligraphy is cherished by both the emperor and ordinary people. Because he cherished himself and did not write in vain, there were few works handed down from generation to generation. In addition, it can be seen that the trend of calligraphy at that time had completely turned to poetry and letters, and the calligraphy tablet was regarded as a matter of technical service, which was despised by the literati, and even the imperial edict could not control it. This is fundamentally different from the situation before the Tang Dynasty. It's not a master of the founding school.

Generally speaking, his calligraphy still abides by the laws of Jin and Tang Dynasties, and his sense of innovation is slightly inferior. But he is an indispensable figure in the development of calligraphy in Song Dynasty. With his own complete calligraphy achievements, he built a bridge between Jin and Tang Dynasties' Legalism and Song people's interest

Chinese PinYin : Cai Xiang