Cai Zhang

• Born: 1445
• Died: 1504
• Other Names: Sai Shô

Cài Zhāng, also known as Sai Shô, was a Ryukyuan scholar-official from Kumemura who, while in Fuzhou on the way home to Ryûkyû from an embassy to Beijing, led a number of his compatriots in murdering a Fuzhou resident named Chén Èrguān and his wife, burning down their house, and stealing their possessions.

This led to King Shô En receiving an angry admonition from the Ming emperor the following year, instructing him that rogue Ryukyuan agents will be held accountable for their crimes, and imposing a series of restrictions on Ryûkyû's privileges in the tribute trade.

References

• Gregory Smits, Maritime Ryukyu, University of Hawaii Press (2019), 134-135.