Shuowen: 艸部: "Cai, 艸也." From the 艸, the sound of sacrifice. ”
Translation: "Cai, a kind of grass." From the 艸, the sound of sacrifice. ”
The Shuowen (說文) 艸部, in the form of sound characters, is now the Shubu (艹部).
Cai, shape sound word. From the 艸, the sound of sacrifice. It is said that the "Cai" character oracle bone resembles a porcupine shape, borrowed as the word "Cai".
The original meaning refers to weeds. However, in ancient texts, the use of the word "Cai" as a weed is relatively rare. It is generally used in the literature as the name of the country, that is, the state of Cai. Cai is also a surname. In ancient times, it was also called the big turtle used for divination as Cai, and some people believe that this is due to the fact that this big turtle was produced in Cai land.
The origin of the surname "Cai" is usually considered to be a descendant of Ji Chang, the King of Zhou Wen. After King Wu of Zhou destroyed the Shang, he sealed his brother Du to Cai and established the state of Cai. After King Cheng of Zhou succeeded to the throne, Uncle Cai joined forces with Guan Shu and others to rebel, and after failure, he was exiled and died shortly after the relocation. Uncle Cai's son, Hu, changed his father's old ways and respected virtue and goodness. When Duke Zhou heard about it, he recommended him to be the secretary of the State of Lu and the Great Ruler of the State of Lu. The Duke of Zhou suggested to King Cheng that hu be sealed in Cai Di for Cai Zhong. After the fall of the State of Cai, the descendants of Cai Zhong scattered all over the country, taking the country as their surname and calling it Cai. Cai Shudu was revered by his descendants as the ancestor of the surname Cai; Cai Zhong was the second ancestor of the Cai surname.
Cai Lun (61–121), courtesy name Jingzhong, was a native of Guiyang County, Eastern Han Dynasty. Cai Lun's improved papermaking technique has been listed as the "four major inventions" of ancient China, which has made outstanding contributions to the spread of human culture and the progress of world civilization, and has been respected by people for thousands of years. In Mike Hart's 100 Celebrities Chart That Influenced the Course of Human History, Cai Lun ranked seventh.
Cai Lun entered the palace as a eunuch in the last year of the Han Ming Emperor Yongping, and soon after Cai Lun entered the palace, he was promoted to the position of Xiaohuangmen eunuch, and served at the side of Empress Dou (the wife of Emperor Zhang of Han) and became the empress's pawn. Empress Dou had no heirs of her own, and in order to hold power for a long time, she single-handedly plotted to force the death of Song Guiren, and led to the abolition of the crown prince position of Liu Qing, the son of Song Guiren. Cai Lun, who was Empress Dou's confidant, was also involved in these court plots. Later, Empress Dowager Dou chose the young crown prince Liu Zhao to succeed to the throne as Emperor He of Han.
When Han and Emperor He first ascended the throne, they were not yet minors and could not personally govern. At this time, Empress Dou had been promoted to Empress Dowager Dou, and she took the opportunity to control the imperial government and let the Dou family's foreign relatives act as a blessing in the dynasty. At this time, Cai Lun was assigned to follow Han Hedi's side, called care, which was actually eyeliner. However, the long-term relationship made the balance in Cai Lun's heart gradually tilt to the little emperor. So he and another eunuch planned a coup d'état to help Han and emperor regain military power. Empress Dowager Dou died soon after.
In order to consolidate his position, Cai Lun began to dig a pit to curry favor with Empress Deng of Han and The Emperor, and just to please these common tricks of patting horses and horses will be everyone, and the empress will not be rare. Empress Deng did not have any intentions, at that time she was a talented woman, and she liked to recite poems and dance ink on weekdays. But at that time, the paper used for writing was a luxury product, which could not withstand such a large amount of use by Empress Deng, who was also a thrifty and thrifty person, and naturally did not want to waste it. Cai Lun researched "Cai Hou Paper" on the basis of the original paper, which not only made the paper more easy to use than before, but also greatly saved the cost of production. The emperor and empress were very happy to learn of this, and rewarded Cai Lun and promoted the paper made by Cai Lun throughout the country.
With the previous merits and the improvement of the current papermaking process, Cai Lun was favored by emperors and empresses of Hanhe and Deng. In the first year of Yongchu (107 AD), Empress Deng, because Cai had served as a bodyguard for a long time, made him the Marquis of Longting, with a population of 300 households in the fiefdom, and her life and career entered its peak.
Emperor Han and Emperor Ying died young, and his only surviving son died before he was one year old. Therefore, Empress Deng had no choice but to choose the most qualified Liu Hu from among the sons of the clan as the new emperor, and was known as Emperor An of Han. The newly elected emperor was the son of liu qing, the former deposed prince. At that time, Cai Lun, as Empress Dou's accomplice, forced Song Guiren to death and overthrew the crown prince. At present, the son of the former crown prince has become the emperor, and Cai Lun will naturally be in great trouble. Emperor An of Han sent a message to Cai Lun to go to the Tingwei Mansion to confess his sins, and Cai Lun was ashamed of being humiliated, so he dressed neatly and hat after bathing, drank poison and died.