Yuan Cai (1140–1190)
Born 1140 CE, died 1190 CE.
Yuan Cai (袁采 pinyin: Yuán Cǎi, c. 1140–1195) was a Chinese essayist and politician during the Song dynasty, best known for penning the Yuan shi shi fan (Precepts for Social Life), a manual of advice addressed to family heads on the subject of how to handle their responsibilities. Yuan was born in Xin'an, the capital of Quzhou prefecture, to an established gentry family. In the 1150s he was a student at the National University (大学) at the Southern Song capital of Hangzhou. After passing the jinshi degree in 1163, Yuan Cai served in several prefectures outside the capital. Altogether Yuan Cai served as magistrate of four counties. During this time, he spent much of his time writing. Two of his early works, Zhenghe za ji ("Mischellaneous Notes from Zhenghe) and Xianling xiao lu ("Minor Records of Magistrates"), are no longer extant. From the bibliography chapter of the Book of Song and Ming dynasty gazetteers of Quzhou, he is also known to have written a number of other books, all of which are also lost. Most of them were concerned with the administration of local and central government.
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