postgres Cai Jing (1047–1126), courtesy name Yuanchang, came from Xianyou in Xinghua and was a chancellor under Emperor Huizong of Northern Song, who held power several times and was later named first of the Six Thieves. The History of Song places him among the treacherous ministers, and says that after Emperor Qinzong took the throne he was demoted and exiled, and died on the road at Tanzhou aged eighty.[^wikidata][^zhwiki][^zhengshi] /en/people/cai-jing/relation.html person_cn_q1146610 person cai-jing 蔡京

Cai Jing (1047–1126), courtesy name Yuanchang, came from Xianyou in Xinghua and was a chancellor under Emperor Huizong of Northern Song, who held power several times and was later named first of the Six Thieves. The History of Song places him among the treacherous ministers, and says that after Emperor Qinzong took the throne he was demoted and exiled, and died on the road at Tanzhou aged eighty.[^wikidata][^zhwiki][^zhengshi]

published category-history category-people category-historical-figures tag-ancient-china wikidata https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1146610 zhwiki https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%94%A1%E4%BA%AC zhengshi https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E5%AE%8B%E5%8F%B2/%E5%8D%B7472 2026-10-25T00:00:00+08:00 2026-10-29T17:24:00+08:00 user:admin 7 Cai Jing was a dominant chancellor under Emperor Huizong of Northern Song. The History of Song says his courtesy name was Yuanchang and that he came from Xianyou in Xinghua, and Wikidata's Chinese label is also 蔡京, so the title stays his personal name. This entry records his life as 1047 to 1126.[^wikidata][^zhengshi] ## Early years and calligraphy The History of Song says he passed the jinshi examination in the third year of Xining, served as defender of Qiantang and judicial official of Shuzhou, rose to diarist of the court, and on returning from an embassy to the Liao was made drafting official of the secretariat. His younger brother Cai Bian was already a drafting official, and by custom they ranked by order of entry, but Cai Bian asked to sit below his elder brother, so the two brothers together handled the writing of commands, which the court counted an honor.[^zhengshi] Chinese Wikipedia says he was handsome as a youth, of broad ability, and skilled at calligraphy, already a famous calligrapher when young. It adds that the four great calligraphers of Northern Song are Su, Huang, Mi and Cai, in which Cai originally meant Cai Jing, but later generations, thinking his character treacherous, changed it to Cai Xiang.[^zhwiki] ## Under Sima Guang and in the Shaosheng years The History of Song says that when Sima Guang, in power, restored the system of conscripted service with a deadline of five days, his colleagues complained that it was too hasty, but Cai Jing alone met the deadline, converting all the hired service in the capital counties with no breach, and Sima Guang praised him. In the early Shaosheng years Zhang Dun wanted to change the service rules again and discussed it for a long time without a decision. Cai Jing told him to simply apply the established law of Xining, and the hired-service system was settled that way. The biography remarks that the two systems were opposed by Sima Guang and Zhang Dun, yet Cai Jing twice dealt with them within ten years with ease, and the discerning could see his craftiness.[^zhengshi] ## Chancellor under Huizong After Emperor Huizong took the throne, Cai Jing was first dismissed and lived in Hangzhou. The biography says the eunuch Tong Guan came south to seek rare paintings and calligraphy and stayed in Hangzhou for months, during which Cai Jing kept company with him day and night. The screens and fans Cai Jing painted were sent into the palace by Tong Guan each day with words attached, and the emperor began to take note of him. Palace women and eunuchs spoke of him with one voice, and he was made governor of Dingzhou, then moved to Daming prefecture in the first year of Chongning and recalled as academician in attendance. He was made vice director of the left, soon replaced Zeng Bu as vice director of the right, and in the first month of the second year became vice director of the left. At the audience the emperor asked how he should continue the aims of his father and brother, and Cai Jing kowtowed and said he would give his life.[^zhengshi] The biography says he ran affairs through the office of discussion, abolished the examination law in favor of the three-hall system of schools, took over the tea trade in seven circuits, rewrote the salt notes so that wealthy merchants were ruined overnight, some drowning or hanging themselves, and cast large tens coins. He had the Yuanyou ministers listed as a treacherous faction, with their names carved in stone before a palace gate and a copy written out in his own hand for distribution to the prefectures, three hundred and nine people in all, whose descendants were barred. He promoted Tong Guan and others to military governors, until the law of the ancestors was swept away. Rich as he became, he grew greedier, drawing the pay of a vice director as well as the grain and salary of a minister of works.[^zhengshi] Chinese Wikipedia lists his financial measures, such as the tea voucher law, the salt voucher law and the founding of charity cemeteries for unclaimed remains, and says these sharply raised government revenue and paid for the dynasty's large military actions, while ruining merchants and impoverishing ordinary people.[^zhwiki] ## Rises and falls The History of Song says that in the fifth year of Chongning a comet appeared, and because critics attacked the tablet of factions, the emperor cancelled everything Cai Jing had set up and removed him. His followers then worked privately on the emperor, and in the first year of Daguan he was again vice director of the left, later made grand commandant and grand tutor. In the third year of Daguan the censors and remonstrators attacked him together and he retired, and in the fourth year he was demoted to junior guardian of the heir and sent to Hangzhou. He was recalled in the second year of Zhenghe and held power again. The biography says he changed official titles, styled himself the Duke Chancellor in charge of all three offices, pressed the system of handwritten imperial notes, and urged casting nine tripods, building the Mingtang and Daoist temples, and making the Dasheng music, with large public works that left the people of the Yellow River region in misery. In the sixth year of Xuanhe he took power a fourth time, but his eyes were dim and he could not manage affairs, and his youngest son Cai Tao decided everything on his behalf. His eldest son Cai You then exposed Cai Tao, and the emperor sent Tong Guan to make Cai Jing resign. Cai Jing wept and gave in, and court writers drafted three memorials of resignation in his name.[^zhengshi] ## Family and end The biography says his sons Cai You, Cai Tao and Cai Xiao rose to senior academicians, and his son Cai You married Princess Maode. The emperor visited his house seven times and gave countless rewards. It also says that Cai You and Cai Jing came into conflict over power and set up separate households until they were like enemies. When Emperor Qinzong took the throne and frontier alarms grew, Cai Jing took the whole household south to protect himself, and the world named him first of the Six Thieves. The censor Sun Di and others presented sharp memorials, and he was demoted to director of the palace library with duties at Nanjing, then to deputy military commissioner of Chongxin and Qingyuan, with residence assigned at Hengzhou, then moved to Shaozhou and Danzhou. He died on the road at Tanzhou, aged eighty.[^zhengshi] Chinese Wikipedia says he died of illness at the Dongming temple south of Tanzhou in the seventh month of the first year of Jingkang, that his descendants moved his remains home to Xianyou in the fourth year of Qiandao under Southern Song, that he was rehabilitated and posthumously made Duke of Lu in the reign of Emperor Xiaozong, and that popular tradition holds he starved to death after local people refused to sell him food.[^zhwiki] ## Assessment The History of Song puts him among the treacherous ministers and says he was fierce and sly by nature, using cunning to control people. Before the emperor he watched for chances only to keep his own place, valued profit over duty, and let brothers become strangers and father and son enemies, until he finally brought disaster on the dynasty, and although he died in disgrace on the road, the world still resented that he had not received the proper punishment.[^zhengshi] Chinese Wikipedia also gives the more favorable view: he had great artistic talent in calligraphy, verse and prose, and his disciple Lü Chuan Bianlao, who wrote his epitaph, argued that the Jin invasion could no more be blamed on Cai Jing than the An Lushan rebellion on Yao Chong and Song Jing, the good chancellors of Xuanzong's early reign. Ye Shi and Wang Fuzhi also comment on his fiscal measures and the stone-and-flower transport.[^zhwiki] ## Basic facts - Name: Cai Jing, courtesy name Yuanchang[^zhengshi] - Origin: Xianyou in Xinghua[^zhengshi][^zhwiki] - Life: 1047 to 1126[^wikidata] - Description: statesman of Northern Song[^wikidata] - State or dynasty: Northern Song[^wikidata] - Derived figure: [[person_cn_q111027783|Cai Jing]] (character in Water Margin) /people/cai-jing.html en zh en 1047 1047 1126 1126 historical figure relation_cnportray_q111027783 person_cn_q111027783 based_on person_cn_q1146610 作品中的人物形象，原型为该历史人物。 person_cn_q111027783 wikidata Portrayals person_cn_q111027783 Cai Jing /en/people/cai-jing-shuihu-q111027783.html true person_cn_q111027783 Cai Jing /en/people/cai-jing-shuihu-q111027783.html person based_on Portrayals relation_cnportray_q111027783 person_cn_q111027783 based_on person_cn_q1146610 作品中的人物形象，原型为该历史人物。 person_cn_q111027783 wikidata Portrayals person_cn_q111027783 Cai Jing /en/people/cai-jing-shuihu-q111027783.html true en zh en birth_date Birth 1047 death_date Death 1126 person_category Person category historical figure 1 50 1 1 1 1