Cai Yan

In this Chinese name, the family name is Cai.
Cai Yan
蔡琰
A portrait of Cai Wenji in the album Gathering Gems of Beauty (畫麗珠萃秀)
Bornc. 170 or 178
Qi County, Henan
Diedc. 215 or 249
Other names
Occupation(s)Composer, poet, writer
Spouses
  • Wei Zhongdao
  • Wise Prince of the Left
  • Dong Si
Childrenat least two sons
FatherCai Yong
Relatives

Cai Yan (c. 178 – post 206; or c. 170–215; or died c. 249),[1] courtesy name Wenji, was a Chinese composer, poet, and writer who lived during the late Eastern Han dynasty of China. She was a daughter of Cai Yong. Her courtesy name was originally Zhaoji, but was changed to Wenji during the Jin dynasty to avoid naming taboo because the Chinese character for zhao in her courtesy name is the same as that in the name of Sima Zhao, the father of the Jin dynasty's founding emperor, Sima Yan. She spent part of her life as the concubine of a powerful Xiongnu leader until 207, when the warlord Cao Cao, who controlled the Han central government in the final years of the Eastern Han dynasty, paid a heavy ransom to bring her back to Han territory.[2]

Cai Yan was celebrated for being "erudite, eloquent and brilliant in rhythm"; her biography was recorded in Book of the Later Han, volume 84: Biographies of Exemplary Women (卷八十四 列女傳 第七十四).

  1. ^ Knechtges, David R. "Cai Yan 蔡琰". Brill Online Chinese Reference Library. Retrieved 30 April 2018.
  2. ^ de Crespigny (2007), pp. 28–29.