Cai Xiang, a famous calligrapher, politician and tea scholar of the Northern Song Dynasty
Cai Xiang (蔡襄) (7 March 1012 – 27 September 1067), courtesy name Junmo, was a Han Chinese from Xianyou County (present-day Qingzeting, Fengting Town), a native of Xinghua Junxian County. Famous calligrapher, politician and tea scholar of the Northern Song Dynasty. In the eighth year (1030) of Emperor Renzong of Song's reign, he successively served as a scholar of the Pavilion, the Zhizhiyuan, the Zhishiguan, the Zhizhi, the Longtuge, the Privy Council, the Hanlin, the Three Envoys, and the Duanmingdian.
Han Qi once built the Day Jin Hall in his hometown, Ouyang Xiu wrote for him, Cai Xiang Shudan, and was called the "Three Absolutes" at the time. Cai Xiang must have written dozens of pieces of each word, and waited until the words were combined with the Fadu before they were adopted, and the world called it "Hundred Tablets". In the third year of Jingyou (1036), Fan Zhongyan quarreled with the chancellor Lü Yijian and was deposed from Zhirao Prefecture. At that time, the secretary Yu Jing wrote a letter requesting a revision of the edict; crown prince Zhongyun Yin Suo was a mentor and friendly relationship with Fan Zhongyan, and was willing to demote officials and demote them together; the pavilion collation inspector Ouyang Xiu rebuked Gao Ruoner as an advisor and did not say a word about Fan Zhongyan's depreciation, and Cai Xiang also wrote the poem "Four Sages and One No Xiao" at that time, attacking Gao Ruoner. The poem was circulated in Tokyo, and people competed to write it, and people who bought books sold the poem on the street for a lot of profit. Emissaries of the Liao Dynasty came to visit and secretly bought it back. Later, when Zhang Zhongyong sent an envoy to the Liao Dynasty through Youzhou, he saw someone writing Cai Xiang's poem on the wall in the sheguan. Cai Xiang has a beautiful beard. Renzong accidentally turned back to Cai Xiang one day and said, "Your beard is very beautiful, do you cover it under the quilt when you sleep at night, or do you put it outside?" Cai Xiang could not answer. After returning home, when he went to bed at night, Cai Xiang pondered Renzong's words and put his beard inside and outside the quilt, feeling uncomfortable and unable to fall asleep for one night.
When Cai Xiang knew Fuzhou, he went to the government office for many days due to illness, and every night he dreamed of climbing the drum tower and falling asleep by the drum. The man who had been judging the strange drummer had not been playing the drum in Sangen for many days, and the man replied that a large snake had been hovering over the drum for several days, so he did not dare to approach it. After Cai Xiang recovered from his illness, he told Tongju about his dream, which happened to be the same as the person who beat the drum, and people thought that Cai Xiang was a snake spirit. Cai Xiang was very filial to his mother, he once walked into a woman, who looked very old, Cai Xiang asked her age, she said: "I have lived for one hundred and two years." Cai Xiang prayed and said, "I hope my mother's age can be like yours." And sure enough, it was like what he said. When Cai Xiang was seriously ill, Li Sui, the shou of Xinghua County, dreamed of a fairy purple silk gold medallion, claiming to be here to welcome the next appointment. Li Xuan asked who it was, and the Immortal said, "I am the King of YanLuo, and Cai Xiang will take my place." The next day, Cai Xiang died, and Li Shuo wrote an elegy: "Do not go to the human world for the tomb, but return to the ground as Yan Luo." It is said that when Cai Xiang was serving as the assassin of Quanzhou, he was ordered by his mother to prepare to build a Wan'an Bridge (today's Luoyang Bridge) near Quanzhou Bay. The craftsmen encountered difficulties during the construction, when the water in the bay was so deep that it was difficult to drive piles for the bridge. So Cai Xiang asked his subordinates to write a letter to the sea god, asking the sea god for help and sending someone to the sea to deliver the letter. The messenger thought that he would die on this trip, so he drank bitterly at the hotel, and then drunkenly lay on the beach, hoping that the tide would sweep him away. Unexpectedly, the tide did not sweep him away, and when he woke up, he found that the envelope had been changed, and he hurriedly brought it back and presented it to Cai Xiang. Cai Xiang saw that the "sea god" had only written one "vinegar" word on the letter, pondered for a long time, and thought that the vinegar word could be divided into four parts: "twenty-one", "one", "day", and "unitary", which can be understood as the twenty-one day unitary hour in time. Cai Xiang suddenly woke up and realized that the "sea god" wanted him to start building a bridge in the "twenty-one day unitary". Interestingly, on this day, the sea receded, people successfully laid the foundation of the bridge, and the Wan'an Bridge was built. Since then, the word "vinegar" has also spread as "twenty-one day unitary".
Cai Xiang was born on February 12 of the fifth year of the reign of Emperor Zhenzong of Song (7 March 1012). The family lived in Fengtingyi, Xianyou County, and was a farmer at the beginning of his career, and was once an official in Quanzhou. Her mother, Lu Shi, was the daughter of Lu Ren, a famous scholar from Guifeng Village in Deyinli (future Longxiang), Hui'an County. Cai Xiang received a strict education from his maternal grandfather in his childhood.
Cai Xiang participated in the township examination at the age of 15, and at the age of 18, he traveled to the Beijing Division and entered the Guozi Prison for further study. In the eighth year of Tiansheng (1030), he participated in the Kaifeng Township Trial and won the first place.
In the ninth year of Tiansheng (1031), he ascended to the tenth place. In the tenth year of Tiansheng (1032), he was appointed military judge of Zhangzhou and served for four years.
In the third year of the Qing calendar (1043), Cai Xiang presided over the Court of Counseling, never evaded when things happened, played the role of filial piety and sincerity, most of which were related to the pros and cons of the world and the urgency of the moment. He believed that the security of the country depended on personnel affairs, and that the monarch knew the good and the good and distinguished between evil and good. Because there are people like Cai Xiang who are outspoken and dare to advise, those powerful people are afraid and have many restraints.
In the fourth year of the Qing calendar (1044), Cai Xiang was transferred to Fuzhou Zhizhou, and in the autumn of the sixth year of the Qing calendar, he was transferred to the Fujian Road Transport envoy. When Cai Xiang saw that the people were sick and did not seek medical treatment, Cai Xiang asked the witches to worship them, and most of them were victimized by poison, so he wrote the "Preface to the Holy Huifang", which was published on the stele, advised the sick to seek medical treatment, and took measures to ban the witches. Cai Xiang also wrote the "Five Precepts of Fuzhou" to abstain from bad customs. Cai Xiang proposed officials to mobilize the people to plant pine trees on both sides of the avenue from Fuzhou Dayi to Quanzhou and Zhangzhou, and to shade the avenue, so the folk song sang and praised: "Sandwich road pine, sandwich road pine, ask who planted it, I Cai Gong; pedestrians do not know the summer in June, and the breeze is shaken through the ages."
In the eighth year of the Qing calendar (1048), Cai Xiang left his post due to the death of his father.
In the third year of the emperor's reign (1051), Cai Xiang returned to the dynasty to revise the Notes on Living And To participate in political affairs.
In the fourth year of the reign of Emperor Yu (1052), he was appointed as a living quartersman, a scholar of knowledge, and an internal interpretation of the commentary.
In the first year of Jiayou (1056), Cai Xiang again knew Fuzhou. During his term of office, he advised the students to rejuvenate the good, spread the medicine to cure the poison, educated the people to obey the law for good, changed bad habits, and supervised the officials to win the hearts and minds of the people.
During the reign of Zhihe and Jiayou (1054-1063), Cai Xiang twice knew Quanzhou, the first from February of the third year of Jiayou to June of the first year of Jiayou, and the second from July of Jiayou II to the autumn of Jiayou 5th year. When Cai Xiang was in Quanzhou, he first rectified the administration of officials. At that time, Jinjiang County ordered Zhang Gongzhi to pervert the law, and Cai Xiang played a loose impeachment and dismissed him from his post as a citizen. Later, the imperial court discovered that this was an unjust case, and Cai Xiang was degraded. He also built cities and pools in coastal states and counties, strengthened military defenses, and taught boats and boats to memorize the water potential and guard against sea kou. There is the Luoyang River on the eastern outskirts of Quanzhou City, and the downstream outlet of the river is five miles wide, and there is a ferry port called Wan'anDu. "Every tide is intertwined, and it cannot be crossed for several days", "The sinking boat is drowned, and the dead are not counted". At the same time, please reduce the money of zhang, quan, and xing in the three states, which greatly reduces the burden on the people.
During the period when Cai Xiang knew Quanzhou, drought occurred for many years, so he mobilized people's strength, strengthened water source management, and formulated the "Turtle Lake Pond Regulations" to stop water disputes. During his tenure as a transport envoy, he also visited a spring 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 Zhiping period (1064-1067), Wang Kejun of Jinjiang County carved the three characters "Cai Gongquan" on Moya as a memorial.
In the autumn of the fifth year of Jiayou (1060), Emperor Renzong summoned Cai Xiang as the third envoy of the Hanlin Academy, and in February of the following year, he went to Beijing to pay homage to the third envoy of the Hanlin scholar Quan Li and was in charge of the imperial court finances. At this time, the Song court's financial income could not make ends meet, and the "poverty" was already deep. Xiang is good at financial management, "compared with the world's surplus and virtual entry and exit, the amount of income to make use." Scratch the silverfish, book discipline, and know the law." Soon, Emperor Yingzong succeeded to the throne and formally appointed Cai Xiang as the third envoy. Cai Xiang wrote an article entitled "The Essentials of the Theory of the State," expounding the reform proposals and proposing reform plans for selecting officials, appointing talents, eliminating redundancies, distinguishing between evil and evil, punishing those who are punished, suppressing mergers, and enriching the country and strengthening the army. Instead of adopting it, Emperor Yingzong took away his three envoys. Cai Xiang was difficult to accommodate in the imperial court and asked for a foreign post.
In the second year of Zhiping (1065), Cai Xiang left Hangzhou and went to office after paying homage to the Ming Temple.
In October of the third year of Zhiping (1066), his mother Lu Died, and Cai Xiang escorted the funeral to the south.
On August 16 (September 27), the fourth year of Zhiping (1067), Cai Xiang died at home at the age of 56, and was given the title of official shilang and later a young master. Buried in Fengting CaiLing, Ouyang xiu wrote the "Duanmingdian Scholar Cai Cemetery Inscription".
In the third year (1176) of Emperor Xiaozong of Song' reign, his great-grandson Cai Huan (蔡洸) invited Cai Xiang to the imperial court, and Emperor Xiaozong bestowed the title of "Zhonghui".
During the reign of Emperor Qing of Song Ning (1195-1200), the Cai Xiang Ancestral Hall was built at the end of Luoyang Bridge South Street. Later generations erected a pillar in front of his tomb with the inscription Lianyun: "The Four Sayings of the Scriptures, the Fang-type Chronicle of the Past; The Wan'an Jizhong, the Ancient Dao of the Present Dynasty." ”
Cai Xiang was not only a politician, writer, and calligrapher, but also a tea scholar. He was an official, people-oriented, paid attention to the development of the local economy, and made certain contributions to the development of Fujian's tea industry and tea culture. The famous Beiyuan Royal Garden in history is in Jianzhou, which was also known as Jianxi in the old days, Jian'an (now in Jian'ou County). The earliest written record of tea cultivation can be found in the Tang Dynasty Sun Qiao's "Book of Sending Tea bananas to the Punishment Department", which records that "Late Ganhou" (one of the famous teas of the Tang Dynasty) was produced in "the hometown of Jianyang Bishui Danshan, which is the product of the moon stream cloud niche". At that time, the tea produced in the Jianxi River Basin was collectively called "Jiancha" and "Jianming". During the Five Dynasties period, Wang Zhenzhi built the Minguo in Fujian, and the Beiyuan Tea Garden became an official tea garden specializing in the production of tribute tea. After the fall of the Min Dynasty, Li Yu, the lord of the Southern Tang Dynasty, sent officials to Jian'an to set up a "dragon roast" and supervise the production of "Jiancha into the Imperial Palace". Designate the authoritarian "Dragon Tea". History developed into the Song Dynasty. Ding Zhi served as a transport envoy in Fujian, and when supervising the production of imperial tea, he paid special attention to the "early, fast, and new" production of imperial tea. For example, "the society collects its buds in the first ten days, and thousands of workers are created every day, and the society is forced to pay tribute." Due to the exquisite production, in the hands of Ding Zhi, Beiyuan tea has been famous in Beijing and is called a treasure.
During the Qing Dynasty (1041-1048), Cai Xiang created the Xiaolong Regiment to advance, and was ordered to pay tribute to the years" (Xiong Fan Beiyuan Tribute Tea Record). The "Yu Yin Cong Dialect of The Dragon Of The Dragon Of The Dragon Of The Dragon Of Beiyuan Tea" also says that the Beiyuan Tea Dragon Tuan "originated from Ding Zhi and became Cai Junmo". Indeed, Cai Xiang was a transport envoy in Fujian, developing the Beiyuan tea industry to a new peak, and he started from transforming the quality of Beiyuan tea and seeking quality and shape. In terms of appearance, the large group tea was changed to a small group of tea, and the fresh and tender tea buds were used as raw materials in terms of quality, and the production process was improved. For this reason, Ouyang Xiu's "Guitian Record" Volume II has a cloud: "The quality of tea is not more valuable than the dragon and phoenix, which is called tuancha." Where eight cakes weigh one pound. In the celebration calendar, Cai Junmo was a transport envoy in Fujian, and he began to make small pieces of dragon tea to advance, and his quality was exquisite, called a small group. Where twenty loaves weigh one pound, their value is two or two gold." Ouyang Xiu had a criticism of Cai Xiang's production of tribute tea, but he had to admit the essence of Cai Xiang's craftsmanship in making tea. Cai Xiang's nephew and Cai Jing's son Cai Qi has a more detailed and objective record of Cai Xiang's development of Beiyuan Yuyuan tea in the "Tiewei Mountain Series", affirming that Cai Xiang is responsible for supervising the production of Beiyuan tea, which is exquisite and extremely shaped, and the highest voice is still the "Miyun Dragon" and "Ruiyun Xianglong" of the "Little Dragon Group". For the tea production to achieve a high level of "fame and new, good taste", "benefit from the poor and the new, and can not be added", at the same time pointed out that to make tea to seize the season "and tea to thrive in its buds, you lie in front of the company has entered the royal" freshness. It can be seen that "good tea competes for quality, and gaiyin quality is precious". As far as Cai Xiang himself is concerned, for the tea of Jian'an, he also has a special discussion on the tea of Jian'an in his book "Tea Record". Its "tea point" strip cloud: "Jian'an Dou test to the water mark as the negative, the durability of the win." Fan Zhongyan of the same dynasty also mentioned in the "He Zhang Min Engaged in Tea Fighting Song" that "Beiyuan will dedicate the Heavenly Son, and Lin Xia Xionghao will first fight the beauty,...... Doucha flavor xi light awakening Dai, doucha fragrant thin lanzhi". It can be seen that Beiyuan Yuyuan tea was extremely prestigious during the Northern Song Dynasty. These glorious periods are due to cai xiang's innovative craftsmanship for the supervision of the Fujian transit envoy. The achievements of this tea industry development cannot be obliterated.
Su Shi said in "Lychee Sigh", "Jun is not seen: Millet buds by Wuyi Creek, before Ding and after Cai Xiang pet plus, vying for new favors to buy their own intentions, this year Dou Pin is official tea." What does my king lack? To nourish the mouth body Ho Ugly Yay! Luoyang Xiangjun was loyal to the filial family, and poor yao huanghua was also entered." The poem was written in the second year of Emperor Zhezong Shaosheng (1095), twenty-five years after Cai Xiang was serving as a transport envoy to Fujian, when Su Shi was being demoted to Huizhou (present-day Huiyang County), Guangdong. The author first tasted the sweet southern fruits of lychee and longan, and was extremely appreciative, and almost compared "lychee" to "beauty". But the author can imagine that the tribute lychee in the Han and Tang Dynasties brought disasters to the people. In the poem, the author reveals the maladministration due to the royal family's extravagant desires, the favor of officials, and the tribute of famous property everywhere. His pen sharpened again, and made a profound satire on the tea and flowers of the Song Dynasty at that time. This poem brought Su Shi a lot of reputation, but it put a hat on Cai Xiang to "buy favors", which should not be.
In short, when Cai Xiang was serving as a transport envoy in Fujian, the supervising producer of Beiyuan Tribute Tea competed for new ones on the basis of the original. He first started by transforming the quality and color of Beiyuan tea, and transformed the "Great Dragon Tuan" into "Xiaolong Tuan", improving the quality of tribute tea, and achieving the technological innovation of "Fame and New, Taste and Benefit", and the integration of tea and tea art. Cai Xiang made good tea, causing Su Dongpo to like "dragon and phoenix tuan tea", resulting in ancient famous sentences. "It's never been a good person." Su Dongpo should thank Cai Xiang for having good tea to produce famous sentences throughout the ages. Cai Xiang's supervision promoted the development of Beiyuan tea. It also promotes local economic development. This technological innovation made Fujian tea ranked first in the Northern Song Dynasty, and the credit should be attributed to Cai Xiang.
Cai Xiang Memorial Hall is located in Dapu Village, Donghai Town, Chengxiang District, Putian City, next to the Jinsha Palace.
Cai Xiang's tomb (Cai Xiang Cemetery) is located at the foot of General Jinling Mountain in Xianyou Fengting, Fujian Province, on the west side of the old Fuxia Highway. In 1961, it was listed as a provincial key cultural relics protection unit.