Cai Wenji (A.D. 177?-?), also spelled Ts’ai Wen-chi, was a cultured Chinese woman who lived with nomads in what is now northern China during the A.D. 190’s and early 200’s. Wenji is remembered for the poetry and songs that she wrote about her experiences there. She also is considered a heroine for her loyalty to her homeland.
Wenji was born Cai Yan (also spelled Ts’ai Yen) about A.D. 177. She became known as Wenji, meaning cultured lady, because of her excellent education, her musical ability, and her poetry and other writing. Wenji’s father was a brilliant scholar and statesman. Her first husband died soon after he and Wenji were married, and she returned to live in her father’s house.
About A.D. 195, during a period of civil war in China, nomads kidnapped Wenji. The nomads gave Wenji to a chief of the Southern Xiongnu, a nomadic people who lived in what are now Inner Mongolia and Shanxi Province, China. Wenji had two sons with the Xiongnu chief.
All of Wenji’s family members in China were killed during the civil war. A powerful Chinese official and warlord named Cao Cao (also spelled Ts’ao Ts’ao) paid a huge ransom for Wenji’s freedom, to honor her ancestors. Cao Cao had been a close friend of Wenji’s father. Cao Cao arranged for Wenji to marry a Chinese army commander after she returned to China.
Wenji’s father had owned a valuable library that was destroyed during the war. Cao Cao asked Wenji to help restore the library. Wenji is said to have listed the names of thousands of titles and reproduced hundreds of complete works from memory. Three poems traditionally have been credited to Wenji as well. These poems tell of her misfortunes and her way of life among the Xiongnu. However, many modern scholars believe that later poets wrote some or all of the poems.
Chinese people honor Wenji as a heroine because she made the painful choice to give up her Xiongnu family and return to her native country. Many motion pictures, plays, poems, and scroll paintings about Wenji continue to inspire Chinese people today.
See also China ; Inner Mongolia ; Shanxi Province .
