An Appraisal of Cai Yong’s Fu from His Innovations

Abstract

Cai Yong is one of the most accomplished and prolific fu writers in the Han dynasty, whose fu oeuvre as a whole greatly expands the scope of traditional fu writing and re-defines fu as a literary genre with his constant experiments with both form and content. Embedded with his life as is recorded in his official biography and modern scholarship, this paper re-evaluates Cai Yong’s fu from his innovations, and argues that there are four innovations that can be firmed established in his fu: 1 the broadening of the scope of fu, enabling it to convey more emotions than only frustration; 2, direct engagement with politics of his time; 3, his metrical innovations in the rhythm of fu; 4, his creative borrowing from the Shi jing.