The Research On Cai Yong’s Personality And His Work Styles

Cai Yong, a talented person, born in the Eastern Han Dynasty, hasnever been fully appreciated during his lifetime. In fact, he is a bright star inthe literary world at that time. He has great achievements in the study ofConfucian classics, the science of history, literature, as well as calligraphyand music, especially in the writing of the inscription. That is becauseliterature men of that time or in later years couldn’t surpass him whether onthe quantity or quality of works. Meanwhile, he is also one of the mainfigures during the process of literary styles changing in Han-Wei Dynasty.There is life-awakening consciousness reflected in his literary works. Bothhis view of life and attitude towards literature have an influence on thefuture generations, especially on the Jianan writers among them. However,his achievements don’t correspond to his reputation in later years. The futuregenerations’ understanding about Cai Yong’s career is far from the realCaiYong because they have a lot of neglect and misunderstanding on himand his works. Based on the opinion that the writing mirrors the writer andfrom the perspective of personality, the paper makes an analysis onCaiYong’s work styles to restore a true Cai Yong.The paper consists of four parts. The first part mainly discusses thecharacteristics of the times in the late Eastern Han Dynasty. During that period of time, the relatives and the eunuchs take turns to hold the power,politics is dark and the society is turbulent, and there are fierce argumentbetween Confucianism and Daoism. All of these shape Cai Yong’spersonality characteristics which have a clear imprint of his times.The second part makes a detailed analysis on characteristics ofpersonality. He is knowledgeable and good at a variety of writing styles.And he is proficient in Confucian classics and at the same time, he has beenaffected by the Daoism. Besides that, he sings of love with full of passionthough he obeys etiquette and law. Thus he is not only an old pedant, but aflesh and blood individual who begins to have life-awakeningconsciousness.The style reflects the personality. The third part explores his workstyles. The future generations have paid more attention to inscriptions, butthey have neglected his achievements in the study of ci and fu. Actually, heis an important figure who is good at changing style of ci and fu. Moreover,his personality characteristics are always reflected in his works.The last part makes a simple analysis on the effects that Cai Yong hason the future generations. Even though his unique personality charm makesgreat effect on Jianan writers, his personal image undergoes ups and downs.The special era and his unique experiences make him out of theordinary. His unique personality has great effect on the formation of workstyles and choices he has made in his lifetime and his fame among the future generations. In general, we may learn about a real Cai Yong throughcomprehending his personality.