courtesy name
A courtesy name (), also known as a style name, is a name bestowed upon one at adulthood in addition to one's given name. This practice is a tradition in the East Asian cultural sphere, including China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam.Ulrich Theob ...
Three Kingdoms
The Three Kingdoms () from 220 to 280 AD was the tripartite division of China among the dynastic states of Cao Wei, Shu Han, and Eastern Wu. The Three Kingdoms period was preceded by the Eastern Han dynasty and was followed by the West ...
period of China.
Early career
Cang Ci was born in the late Eastern Han dynasty and was from Huainan (淮南; covering roughly present-day
Anhui
Anhui , (; formerly romanized as Anhwei) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the East China region. Its provincial capital and largest city is Hefei. The province is located across the basins of the Yangtze River ...
). He started his career as a minor official in a
commandery
In the Middle Ages, a commandery (rarely commandry) was the smallest administrative division of the European landed properties of a military order. It was also the name of the house where the knights of the commandery lived.Anthony Luttrell and G ...
. During the mid Jian'an era (196–220) in the reign of
Emperor Xian
Emperor Xian of Han (2 April 181 – 21 April 234), personal name Liu Xie (劉協), courtesy name Bohe, was the 14th and last emperor of the Eastern Han dynasty in China. He reigned from 28 September 189 until 11 December 220.
Liu Xie was a so ...
, Cang Ci was appointed as a Commandant of Pacification and Collection () to oversee the
tuntian
Tuntian (屯田) or Tunken (屯墾) is a type of frontier "military-agricultural colonies" over the history of China. Troops were sent to harsh landscapes at the Chinese frontier to turn uncultivated land into self-sustained, agrarian settler ...
system in Huainan.
After the end of the Han dynasty in 220, Cang Ci served as an official in the state of
Chang'an
Chang'an (; ) is the traditional name of Xi'an. The site had been settled since Neolithic times, during which the Yangshao culture was established in Banpo, in the city's suburbs. Furthermore, in the northern vicinity of modern Xi'an, Qin S ...
() in the final years of
Cao Pi
Cao Pi () ( – 29 June 226), courtesy name Zihuan, was the first emperor of the state of Cao Wei in the Three Kingdoms period of China. He was the second son of Cao Cao, a warlord who lived in the late Eastern Han dynasty, but the eldest ...
's reign (220–226) and was known for being fair and just. He was respected and admired by other officials and the common people.
Governorship of Dunhuang
During the Taihe era (227–233) in
Cao Rui
Cao Rui () (204 or 206 – 22 January 239), courtesy name Yuanzhong, was the second emperor of the state of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period. His parentage is in dispute: his mother, Lady Zhen, was Yuan Xi's wife, but she later rem ...
's reign, Cang Ci was appointed as the Administrator () of Dunhuang Commandery, which was located in the remote regions in western China. Owing to the tremendous disturbances in the core areas of China during that period, Dunhuang had been in a semi-anarchic state for about 20 years – it had no Administrator and its local government was weak, while influential landlords abused their power to oppress the peasantry. The previous Administrators such as
Yin Feng
Yin may refer to:
*the dark force in the yin and yang from traditional Chinese philosophy and medicine
* Yīn (surname) (), a Chinese surname
*Yǐn (surname) (), a Chinese surname
*Shang dynasty, also known as the Yin dynasty
**Yinxu or Yin, the ...
() and others had allowed Dunhuang to remain in its sorry state and had not made any improvements.
When Cang Ci arrived in Dunhuang, he sought to reform the local government, clamp down on the power of the landlords, and help the poor. He initiated a vigorous programme of land redistribution by seizing excess plots of land from the landlords and giving them to peasants who had no land. He saw that many criminal cases had piled up over the years because the magistrates were unable to pass any judgment and that the prisons were packed. Cang Ci personally handled the cases which had not been reviewed for years. In order to spare petty criminals from being subjected to indefinite detention, he meted out flogging as a punishment to criminals who committed non-capital crimes and released them. His efforts revealed that less than ten crimes a year actually warranted the death penalty in Dunhuang.
As Dunhuang was located near foreign lands, many traders often travelled from the west to China through the Silk Road to pay tribute or to trade. However, many wealthy locals in Dunhuang objected to trading and had even cheated foreign traders, resulting in much unhappiness among foreigners. When Cang Ci heard about this, he personally went to reassure the foreign traders and opened up special routes leading to
Luoyang
Luoyang is a city located in the confluence area of Luo River and Yellow River in the west of Henan province. Governed as a prefecture-level city, it borders the provincial capital of Zhengzhou to the east, Pingdingshan to the southeast, Nanyang ...
exclusively for those traders, while ordering his men to protect and escort the traders as they passed through. The foreigners were very grateful to Cang Ci.
Death
Cang Ci died in office after serving for many years in Dunhuang. The people in Dunhuang deeply mourned his death as if they had lost one of their loved ones, and they even drew portraits of Cang Ci to commemorate him. When the foreign traders learnt of Cang Ci's death, they gathered outside government offices to mourn him, while some even offered blood sacrifices. Temples and shrines were also built to commemorate him.
Appraisal
Chen Shou
Chen Shou (; 233–297), courtesy name Chengzuo (), was a Chinese historian, politician, and writer who lived during the Three Kingdoms period and Jin dynasty of China. Chen Shou is most known for his most celebrated work, the '' Records of ...
, who wrote Cang Ci's biography in the ''Sanguozhi'', commented on Cang Ci as follows: " Zheng Hun and Cang Ci are capable governors. They are among the most famous governors in Wei at the time!"(鄭渾、倉慈，恤理有方。抑皆魏代之名守乎！) ''Sanguozhi'' vol. 16.