Text/Lu Xiuhui Calligraphy Network Contracted Writer: Lu Xiuhui, Jiangsu Xinghua people. Professional calligrapher, painter, seal engraver, literary critic.
Cai Xiang's maternal grandfather, Lu Ren, was a very powerful character, and Lu Ren presided over a large family of generations of the same family. The extended family lived in primitive communism, and not a single member of the extended family had any private money, much less anyone to spend on it. Everyone consciously and diligently performs their duties, and all income goes to the extended family.
As a family administrator, Lu Ren, from young to old, he did not have any bad habits in the world; he grew up and did not utter a vulgar word. Cai Xiang grew up under such a strict education from his grandfather. He participated in the township examination at the age of fifteen, and at the age of eighteen, he traveled to the Beijing Division, entered the GuoziJian for further study and participated in the Kaifeng Township Examination, and won the first place. At the age of nineteen, Cai Xiang was the tenth to enter the army.
In the third year of the Qing calendar (1043), Cai Xiang was 31 years old, and was recommended by Ouyang Xiu, Wang Su, and Yu Jing, and was appointed by Emperor Renzong as a zhizhiyuan. At that time, the court had great authority and could give opinions on the appointment of hundreds of officials and various political affairs. The counselors in the court know everything and are not guilty, and the court often disagrees with the opinion of the prime minister and effectively advises the power of the prime minister. Cai Xiang never evades when things happen, dares to be responsible, dares to shout, and is loyal and earnest in his performance, which is related to the relationship between the world and the world, and does not dare to slacken off. Cai Xiang was particularly concerned about personnel affairs, and he was very close-eyed, because he believed that the fate of the country depended on the appointment and arrangement of officials, and the monarch mainly distinguished between evil and righteousness, and knew people and good responsibilities. It was precisely because of the courage of loyal and righteous men like Cai Xiang to speak out, the magnates had to be careful to restrain and have a fearful heart, which made the atmosphere at that time improve.
When Cai Xiang was 32 years old, he was transferred to Fuzhou. At that time, the people of Fuzhou did not seek medical treatment when they fell ill, but prayed to the witches, and the people were mostly victimized by poison. Cai Xiang wrote the "Afterword to the Holy Huifang", which was engraved on the stele, advising the people to seek medical treatment for the sick, and taking compulsory measures to ban witchcraft, "The prohibition is very strict, and those who break hundreds of homes will take a short rest from now on." ”
On the first day, he asked the people to light lamps in order to increase the festive atmosphere, and some rich people made a sheet of more than one zhang, which was written in large characters: "A lamp for a rich family, a grain of millet in Taicang, a lamp for a poor family, and father and son cry relatively." Wind and currents too defensive to know? Hate song has no good song. After Cai Xiang saw it, he ordered the lights to be stopped. Cai Xiang wrote the "Five Precepts of Fuzhou" to exhort the people to abstain from bad customs. Cai Xiang's actions have fundamentally changed some of the bad customs of the Fujian people.
Cai Xiang was twice the official Quanzhou, which was the starting point of the ancient "Maritime Silk Road". During the Northern Song Dynasty, Chinese and foreign merchants gathered in Quanzhou, and the harbor area was lined with sail walls, which was a distribution center for goods from all over the world. However, Wan'andu has become a great obstacle restricting the economic and cultural exchanges between the north and south of Fujian, so the construction of the Wan'andu Bridge has become a top task.
In the process of building the bridge, Cai Xiang invented the "raft-shaped foundation", "first throwing a large number of large stones along the middle line of the bridge at the bottom of the river to form a low stone embankment across the bottom of the river as the base site of the pier." Then the piers were built with a row of horizontal and straight strips of stone, and the creation of this stone foundation was a major breakthrough in the history of bridge construction", he also broadcast sea oysters to consolidate the bridge foundation. On the tidal flats on both sides of the bridge, stones are widely planted to attach sea oysters, with the aim of slowing down the river flow without shaking the foundation of the bridge, and this method of applying biology to architecture is also a precedent in the world. After the completion of the bridge, Cai Xiang wrote the "Record of Wan'an Bridge" and carved a stone monument. This inscription is extremely beautiful and is a famous calligraphy treasure in the history of calligraphy.
Cai Xiang also made supporting projects for the Luoyang Bridge, starting from Fuzhou, planting trees along the way to Quanzhou and Zhangzhou, with a total length of 700 miles. This road is planted with trees, which not only prevents soil erosion, but also protects passing merchants from the sun exposure. The people of the time wrote a poem praising this:
"Sandwich road pine, sandwich road pine, ask who planted me Cai Gong, pedestrians do not know the summer in June, the ancient shake the breeze."
Cai Xiang is a beautiful bearded man with a beautiful beard. Renzong accidentally asked Cai Xiang, "Cai Qing, when you sleep at night, do you put your beard inside the quilt, or do you put your beard outside the quilt?" Cai Xiang was speechless for a moment, not knowing how to answer. When sleeping at night, Cai Xiang began to pay attention to whether he had put his beard inside the quilt or outside. Inside and outside feel inappropriate, turning over, how to put it are uncomfortable, as a result, insomnia, the mind is on the beard, how to sleep?
Cai Xiang's grandfather Lu Ren was particularly filial, Cai Xiang was also very filial to his mother, he once met an old woman, Cai Xiang asked her age, the old woman said: "I am 102 years old this year." Cai Xiang listened, bowed down and prayed, and then prayed again: "I pray that my mother can live as long and healthy as you."
In the sixth year of Jiayou, the 55-year-old Cai Xiang was awarded the Title of Hanlin Scholar and in charge of imperial court finances. At this time, the Song court's "poverty" was already deep, and the financial income had not been enough for a long time. Cai Xiang, on the other hand, was good at managing money, wrote the "Outline of the Theory of the State," expounded the proposition that if you want to save the finances, you must first reform, and put forward a series of reform plans for selecting officials, appointing talents, eliminating redundancies, distinguishing between evil and evil, punishing them, suppressing mergers, and enriching the country and strengthening the army, directly attacking financial shortcomings. However, the newly enthroned Emperor Yingzong not only did not adopt his reform ideas, but instead took away his three envoys.
Cai Xiang has made great contributions to the development of Fujian's tea industry and tea culture. The famous Beiyuan Imperial Tea Garden in history is in Fujian. During the celebration of the calendar, Cai Xiang created the Small Dragon Regiment into the Dedication Palace, and was ordered to "still pay tribute to the years". He started from the transformation of the quality of Beiyuan tea, and demanded more patterns and varieties for tea production, requiring continuous innovation, and also seizing the season of making tea to ensure freshness.
Cai Xiang's inkblots include "Zishu Poetry Thesis", "Xie Ci Royal Book Poem", "Tao Sheng Tie", "Suburb Burnt Thesis", "Menghui Ti" inkblots, and the inscriptions include "The Record of Wan'an Bridge", "The Record of Day Jintang" and the Gushan Lingyuan Cave Book "Forgotten Return Stone", "Guoshi Rock" and other treasures.
Cai Xiang is proficient in calligraphy and is one of the "Four Houses of the Song Dynasty". It is one of the typical representatives of the calligraphy style of the Song Dynasty. He studied Yu Shinan, Yan Zhenqing, and yuanfa Jinren. Cai Xiang is also good at canonical, calligraphy and cursive writing. His calligraphy is thick and dignified, with a temple atmosphere; simple and elegant, with the demeanor of a mountain man; slowly written, if a gentleman meets; slowly, like tea fragrance, can not help himself. His calligraphy, which is self-contained, is like a spring breeze when it is unfolded, and its breath is full of beautiful and gentle elegance. However, jade does not hide flaws.
His sense of calligraphy innovation is slightly inferior, and he is too obsessed with the Jin and Tang Dynasties, but he has built a skillful bridge between the Jin and Tang Dynasties and the interests of the Song people, and he is an indispensable link in the development of Song Dynasty calligraphy.
He left 370 poems, 64 essays, and 584 essays, which were included in the Collected Writings of Cai Zhonghui (a total of thirty-six volumes, and ten volumes of the Beiji).
Cai Xiang (蔡襄) (7 March 1012 – 27 September 1067), courtesy name Junmo. A native of Chiling, Cixiaoli, Xianyou County, Xinghua Army (present-day Xianyou County, Fujian Province).
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