Cai / Tsai
The Cai surname originated in the Western Zhou period. King Wu of Zhou enfeoffed his fifth younger brother Shudu in Cai, after which Shudu was known as Cai Shu; Shudu's son Hu established his capital at Shangcai and was known as Cai Zhong. After King Hui of Chu destroyed the state of Cai in 447 BCE, its people adopted the state's name as their surname.
The Jiyang Cai clan denotes the prominent Cai families living around Chenliu and Jiyang during the Wei, Jin, and Northern and Southern Dynasties. Before the reign of Emperor Hui of Western Jin, Chenliu and Jiyang were not separately administered, and the group was called the Chenliu Cai clan; after Jiyang Commandery was established, part of it also became known as the Jiyang Cai clan.
The state of Cai moved several times and ultimately relocated to Zhoulai.
Reference: 蔡氏源流-蔡氏始祖-蔡姓来源-炎黄蔡氏网
During the Yongjia era of the Jin dynasty, warfare drove prominent Cai families from the Jiyang Commandery area southward, and they settled in what is now Zhejiang.
Reference: 蔡氏源流-蔡氏始祖-蔡姓来源-炎黄蔡氏网
Most southern descendants bearing the Cai surname regard Jiyang as their ancestral-root area; the Putian and Jianyang Cai clans became important branches after the southward migration.
Notable members of the Chenliu and Jiyang Cai clans included the Eastern Han literary figure Cai Yong and his daughter Cai Yan, as well as Cai Mu, a minister of Cao Wei; Cai Mo, Grand Minister over the Masses of the Jin; and Cai Xingzong, Minister of Personnel under Liu Song.
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