Cai Yong (simplified: 蔡邕, traditional: 蔡邕, pinyin: Cài Yōng), courtesy name Bojie (伯喈 Bójiē), was a Han dynasty scholar, calligrapher, and musician. He was famous for the Xiping Stone Classics and for music and rhapsodies. When Dong Zhuo took power in 189, he recruited Cai Yong; Cai Yong was promoted to Left General of the Household and enfeoffed as Marquis of Gaoyang. After Dong Zhuo’s assassination in 192, Wang Yun presided over the court. Cai Yong was heard sighing over Dong Zhuo; Wang Yun had him arrested. Many pleaded for him, but Wang Yun insisted that he had shown sympathy for a traitor. Cai Yong died in prison. His daughter Cai Yan (Cai Wenji) was a noted poet and musician who was captured by the Xiongnu and later ransomed by Cao Cao.
Biography
Scholar and courtier
Cai Yong was from Chenliu and became one of the leading scholars of the late Han. He was involved in the Xiping Stone Classics project and was renowned for calligraphy and music. He had been persecuted earlier under the eunuchs and had fled to the south; when Dong Zhuo seized power, he summoned Cai Yong to the capital and promoted him.
Fall after Dong Zhuo’s death
After Lü Bu killed Dong Zhuo, Wang Yun took charge. At a gathering, Cai Yong sighed when Dong Zhuo was mentioned. Wang Yun accused him of being a partisan of the traitor and had him imprisoned. Despite appeals, Wang Yun refused to release him. Cai Yong asked to be mutilated (cut off his feet) so he could finish his history of the Han; Wang Yun refused. Cai Yong died in prison in 192. Later tradition often criticises Wang Yun for killing a scholar for a sigh.
Legacy
Cai Yong is remembered as one of the great Han scholars and calligraphers and as a victim of the political purge that followed Dong Zhuo’s death. His daughter Cai Wenji is a famous figure in literature and music.