Cai Rukai (; 1867 - 1923) was a Chinese politician and educator of the late

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speaki ...

and early Republican period.

Biography

Cai was born in Nanchang,

Jiangxi Jiangxi (; ; formerly romanized as Kiangsi or Chianghsi) is a landlocked province in the east of the People's Republic of China. Its major cities include Nanchang and Jiujiang. Spanning from the banks of the Yangtze river in the north into ...

in 1867. During the reign of

Guangxu Emperor The Guangxu Emperor (14 August 1871 – 14 November 1908), personal name Zaitian, was the tenth Emperor of the Qing dynasty, and the ninth Qing emperor to rule over China proper. His reign lasted from 1875 to 1908, but in practice he ruled, wi ...

in the

, he successfully achieved the rank of ''Juren'' () on the

imperial examination The imperial examination (; lit. "subject recommendation") refers to a civil-service examination system in Imperial China, administered for the purpose of selecting candidates for the state bureaucracy. The concept of choosing bureaucrats by ...

. In January 1906 he became supervisor of Imperial Peiyang University, and served until December 1911. In 1912, after the establishment of the

Republic of China Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeas ...

, he became director of Zhili Education Bureau, a position at provincial level. Under the Beiyang government, he served as President of National Peiyang University between February 1913 and March 1914, and then he rose to become Minister of Education. In December 1915, after

Yuan Shikai Yuan Shikai (; 16 September 1859 – 6 June 1916) was a Chinese military and government official who rose to power during the late Qing dynasty and eventually ended the Qing dynasty rule of China in 1912, later becoming the Emperor of China. H ...

's accession to the throne, Yuan conferred the title of "Barons of the First Rank" () to him. In 1921 he was appointed general manager of Nanchang–Jiujiang railway, serving in the post until he died in 1923.

Personal life

Cai has a daughter, Cai Baozhen (), who once served as president of Beijing Children's Library, she was married to

Ying Qianli Ying Qianli (; 11 November 1900 – 8 October 1969), also known as Ying Jiliang (), was a Manchu people, Manchu Eight Banners, Bannerman, a prominent Catholic Church, Catholic layman who devoted himself to education. He was proficient in Engli ...

(1900–1969), a prominent Catholic layman and educator.

References

Additional sources

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cai, Rukai 1867 births 1923 deaths Educators from Jiangxi Republic of China politicians from Jiangxi Qing dynasty politicians from Jiangxi Politicians from Nanchang Empire of China (1915–1916) Presidents of universities and colleges in China