Cai Yong was a teacher when he was a child, Hu Guang. He is knowledgeable, proficient in classics and history, fond of mathematics, astronomy, good at melody, good at drum painting and good at seal script, especially Li Shu. He is good at summing up predecessors' pen experience, integrating it and forming his own style. His calligraphy structure is neat, his strokes and pitches are distinct, and he can change freely. In the Tang Dynasty, Zhang Huaiguan praised "ever-changing style, poor thinking, unique in ancient and modern times". Liang Wudi in the Southern Dynasties also called his calligraphy "vigorous and powerful". Cai Yong's achievements in calligraphy are mainly manifested in the writing of Xi Shi Ping Jing and Fei Bai Shu.
In the fourth year of Emperor Xi of Han Ping, Emperor Wu of Han ordered Cai Yong and others to define the text of the Confucian Classic Six Classics. Cai Yong believes that there are many errors and fallacies in these classics because of the vulgarity of Confucianism. In order not to delay his later study, he asked to correct these scriptures. With the permission of the emperor, Cai Yong personally wrote the scripture on the stone tablet, and then ordered craftsmen to engrave it and set the stone tablet outside imperial academy. There are 46 stone tablets, which are called "Xi Shi Ping Jing" and "Hongdu Shi Jing". It is said that after Ishii was founded, more than 65,438+0,000 cars were watched and imitated by people every day.
Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty once ordered craftsmen to repair Hongdu Gate (Hongdu was called the seat of the Royal Library in the Eastern Han Dynasty), and craftsmen used brooms to sweep white powder and write on the wall. Cai Yong got inspiration from this and created Feibai Book. This style of writing, which is a simple sketch, seems to be written with a dry pen, and it is a unique style. Zhang Tang Huaiguan commented on Cai Yong's "Flying White Book" in the preface, saying that "flying white is wonderful and moving".
Cai Yong is famous, so later generations attached some inscriptions and works to Cai Yong's name. It is said that its original work was rare in the Tang Dynasty.
Cai Yong was not only a great calligrapher in the Eastern Han Dynasty, but also a master of calligraphy theory in the Han Dynasty. There are Shi Zhuan, Fu Bi, Babylon and the past, especially Babylon and the past, which occupy an important position in the history of China's calligraphy theory. He discussed the artistic essence of lyric calligraphy and the mental state that calligraphers should have when creating, emphasized that the art of calligraphy should emphasize the beauty of images, revealed the philosophical basis of the beauty of calligraphy, and expounded the aesthetic factors contained in the structure of Chinese characters, which laid a theoretical foundation for the development of China's calligraphy.
Cai Yong has made remarkable achievements in music. He is not only good at playing and composing guqin, but also has research on the production of guqin. I can carve the lyre myself. It is said that once, Cai Yong saw someone cooking with Chinese parasol trees as firewood. He heard the sound of wood bursting and quickly grabbed a piece of wood from the stove. The man felt strange and asked him. Cai Yong replied: "This is a rare paulownia, which can be used to make a good piano." Soon, Cai Yong made it into a piano, which not only has good timbre and loud voice, but also has a melodious and extraordinary rhyme. This is really a rare good piano. Unfortunately, the end of the piano was burnt, so people called this famous piano Qin, which was called the "three famous pianos" of ancient music in China together with the "round piano" of the King of Chu and the "Luqi Guqin". On another occasion, a friend invited him to dinner. Cai Yong was late for something and the banquet had already begun. He stood at the door and heard the piano coming from inside. He couldn't help being surprised: Oh, no! There is a murderous look in the piano. Is someone trying to murder me? So Cai Yong started to run. My friend found out and went to get him back at once. Seeing that he couldn't hide it, he told the truth. Hearing this, my friend patted his head and said, "Just now, when I was playing the piano, I saw a mantis on the tree, climbed behind the cicada, raised two front feet like saws and tried to jump at it." The cicada found it and was about to fly away. I'm so nervous, I'm afraid mantis will catch cicada. Is this idea of killing life reflected in the Sound of the Piano? " Cai Yong smiled. This shows that he has a keen sense of music.