Background

Cai Yan was the daughter of Cai Yong, a famous Eastern Han dynasty scholar. There is no exact information about the date and the place of her birth.

Career

Cai Yan was married to Wei Zhongdao in 192, but he died shortly after the marriage. After that Cai Yan was captured by soldiers of the southern Xiongnu people (often referred to in English as the Huns) and taken as a concubine by the Xiongnu nobleman Zuo Xianwang. She lived in an alien land with these non-Han people for twelve years, during which time she gave birth to two sons.

12 years later, the Han Chancellor, Cao Cao, paid a heavy ransom in the name of Cai's father for her release. After Cai was freed, she returned to her homeland but left her children behind in Xiongnu territory. The reason Cao Cao wanted her back was that she was the sole surviving member of her clan and he needed her to placate the spirits of her ancestors.

When she returned to her homeland Cai Yan was recorded in the official history of the Eastern Han dynasty, the History of the Later Han Dynasty (Hou Han shu), as she became the wife of Dong Si, an army officer in the service of Cao Cao.

The bibliographical chapter of the History of the Sui Dynasty (Sui shu), the official history of the Sui dynasty (581-618), notes that there had been a Collected Works of Cai Wenji in one volume but it was then no longer extant. Only three of Cai Yan’s works have survived. Her two works titled Indignant Grief are recorded in the History of the Later Han Dynasty. Eighteen Songs of a Nomad Flute is a long lyric-style poem made up of eighteen songs, or sections, totaling 1,297 characters.

Achievements

• Cai Yan has been described as the most hapless poet of the Han dynasty but her two poems both titled Beifen shi (this title has been translated as Indignant Grief and as Poem of Affliction) and her long poem Eighteen Songs of a Nomad Flute (Hujia shiba pai) are literary masterpieces.

Personality

Cai Yan was learned, versatile, eloquent, and musically gifted.

Connections

Cai Yan was married to Wei Zhongdao. After his death, she married the Xiongnu chieftain Liu Bao and bore him two sons. Later she returned to her homeland and married again, this time to Dong Si, a local government official from her hometown.

Father:

Cai Yong

Cai Yong was an official and scholar of the Eastern Han dynasty.

Late Husband:

Wei Zhongdao

Wei Zhongdao died shortly after his marriage to Cai Yan.

Ex-husband:

Liu Bao

Liu Bao was a Southern Xiongnu chanyu who lived during the late Eastern Han dynasty and Three Kingdoms period of China.

husband:

Dong Si

Dong Si was a local government official at Henan province.

nephew:

Yang Hu

Yang Hu was a military general, government official, and scholar who lived during the Jin dynasty of China.

niece:

Yang Huiyu

Yang Huiyu was an empress dowager of the Jin dynasty of China.

References

• Chinese Narrative Poetry: The Late Han Through T'ang Dynasties Chinese Narrative Poetry brings a new perspective to some of China's best-loved and most influential poems, including Ts'ai Yen's "Poem of Affliction," Po Chu-yi's "Song of Everlasting Sorrow," and Wei Chuang's recently discovered "Song of the Lady of Ch'in."
  1988
• Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Women: Antiquity Through Sui, 1600 B.C.E. - 618 C.E This new volume of the "Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Women" spans more than 2,000 years from antiquity to the early seventh century. It recovers the stories of more than 200 women, nearly all of them unknown in the West.
  1998