Writers › Writer / Poet
Cai Shen
Ci poet of the Northern-Southern Song transition, courtesy name Shendao, styled Yougu Jushi; he held prefectural posts in Xuzhou, Chuzhou and Hezhou and left the Yougu Jushi Ci.
In a study at night, a desk holds a brush pot, a porcelain vase with a plum branch, a lit red lantern, a folded fan and an unrolled blank scroll, with no one seated there, while through a round window the moon rises over a lake with a sailboat.
Also known as Shendao · Yougu Jushi
Cai Shen, courtesy name Shendao and literary name Yougu Jushi, from Xianyou in Fujian, was a ci poet of the Song transition and, by one account, a grandson of the statesman Cai Xiang. He served as subprefect in Xuzhou, Chuzhou, Raozhou and Zhenzhou and as prefect of Chuzhou, Xuzhou, De'an and Hezhou, reaching Left Grand Master of Remonstrance and Academician. His lyrics mostly treat parting and longing in a clear, delicate style; they survive as the Yougu Jushi Ci.
Life and times
Dates 1088–1156 CE