Cai Xiang


Cai Xiang was a Chinese calligrapher, politician, structural engineer, and poet. He had the reputation as the greatest calligrapher in the Song dynasty.

Biography

He was born during the Dazhongxiangfu era of the Song dynasty in Xianyou county of Xinghua prefecture, now Xianyou County in Putian of Fujian province.
In the eight year of the Tiansheng era he obtained the degree of jinshi, a graduate who passed the triennial court exam. His highest rank was Secretariat Drafter of the Duanming Court, in charge of written communication of the imperial government. During the Qingli era, he was the Officer of Transportation in Fujian. While acting as a prefect in Fujian, he also was in charge of overseeing the construction of the Wan-an Bridge at Quanzhou.
He pioneered the manufacturing of small Dragon Tribute Tea Cake of superlative quality, as it was reputed to be harder to obtain than gold.
Cai Xiang's style name was Junmo, and his posthumous name was Zhonghuei.

Works

One of his most famous publications is his essay "The Record of Tea", also known as the "Tea Note", which he wrote in 1049–1053.