He was born during the Dazhongxiangfu ()
era of the Song dynasty in Xianyou () county of Xinghua () prefecture, now
Xianyou County in
Putian of
Fujian province. In the eight year of the Tiansheng () era (1030 CE) he obtained the degree of
jinshi (進士, lit. "advanced scholar"), a graduate who passed the triennial court exam. His highest rank was Secretariat Drafter of the Duanming Court (
Duanmingdian Xueshi), in charge of written communication of the imperial government. During the Qingli () era (1041–1048 CE), he was the Officer of Transportation (
Zhuanyunshi) in Fujian. While acting as a prefect in Fujian, he also was in charge of overseeing the construction of the Wan-an Bridge at
Quanzhou. He pioneered the manufacturing of small
Dragon Tribute Tea Cake of superlative quality, as it was reputed to be harder to obtain than gold. Cai Xiang's
style name was Junmo (), and his
posthumous name was Zhonghuei (). == Works ==