Editing Cai Lun (section)

===Influence in China===
====Folklore====
{{see also|Chinese folklore|Joss paper}}
While Cai's personal life is mostly unknown, a popular [[Folklore|folktale]] suggests he was a shopkeeper and [[trickster]] with a wife and brother, though there is no historical confirmation for this.{{sfn|Blake|2011|p=55}} The story goes that after Cai's improvements to paper there was little demand for the product so he had an ever-growing surplus.{{sfn|Blake|2011|p=55}} As such, Cai and his wife developed a ploy to increase sales; they told townsfolk that paper becomes money in the afterlife [[Money burning#Eastern Asian burning|when burned]].{{sfn|Blake|2011|p=55}}

In the most popular variation to the tale, Cai Mo and Hui Niang—Cai's brother and sister-in-law of unconfirmed [[historicity]]—take the place of Cai and his wife.{{sfn|Blake|2011|p=55}} In this version, Hui convinced Cai Mo to learn the new papermaking trade from his younger brother, and when he returned in only three months, the paper he and his wife produced was too low quality to sell.{{sfn|Blake|2011|pp=55–56}} To address this, Hui pretended to have died, and Cai Mo stood beside her coffin, wailing and burning money as tribute.{{sfn|Blake|2011|p=56}} Then, their neighbors checked in on them, and Hui sprung out of the coffin, explaining that the burned money was transferred to her in the afterlife, with which she paid ghosts to return her from the dead.{{sfn|Blake|2011|p=56}} Believing the story, the neighbors quickly purchased large amounts of paper for their own use.{{sfn|Blake|2011|p=57}}{{efn|See {{harvtxt|Blake|2011|pp=55–57}} for a detailed account of the tale.}} While mostly a fictitious story, intense wailing and burning offerings are commonplace in Chinese culture.{{sfn|Blake|2011|p=57}}{{efn|See {{harvtxt|Blake|2011|pp=57–63}} for other variations on the story less related to Cai Lun.}}

====Deification and remembrance====
Of those who originated China's [[Four Great Inventions]] of the ancient world—the [[compass]], [[gunpowder]], papermaking and printing—only the inventor of papermaking, Cai Lun, is known.{{sfn|Narita|1966|p=1}} Additionally, in comparison to other Chinese inventions such as the writing brush and [[ink]], the development of paper is the best documented in literary sources.{{sfn|Tsien|1962|p=[https://archive.org/details/writtenonbamboos0000chie/page/136/mode/1up 136]}}

After his death in 121 CE, a shrine with his grave was built in his hometown, but was soon neglected and damaged by floods while his name was largely forgotten.{{sfn|Narita|1966|p=13}} During the early [[Tang dynasty]], many national heroes were [[Apotheosis|deified]], such as [[Li Bai]] and [[Guan Yu]] as the gods of wine and war respectively. Cai was among the important people declared gods, and was deified as the national god of papermaking.{{sfnm|1a1=Day|1a2=McNeil|1y=1996|1p=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780415060424/page/123/mode/1up 123]|2a1=Tsien|2y=1985|2p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=Lx-9mS6Aa4wC&pg=PA106 106]–107}} Cai also became a patron saint for papermakers, with his image often being painted or printed onto paper mills and paper shops in not only China, but also Japan.{{sfnm|1a1=Tsien|1y=1985|1p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=Lx-9mS6Aa4wC&pg=PA107 107]|2a1=Carter|2y=1925|2p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=PgEYAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA3 3]}} In 1267, a man named Chen Tsunghsi raised funds to repair the long-damaged shrine, and renovated it to include a statue of Cai and a [[mausoleum]].{{sfn|Narita|1966|p=13}} Chen stated that "Tsai Lung's [Cai Lun's] extraordinary talent and his achievement are exemplary to all ages."{{sfn|Narita|1966|p=13}} A stone mortar, which legends claim Cai used to make paper, may have been brought to the mausoleum, although other sources say it was brought to the Imperial Museum in the capital of [[Lin'an Prefecture|Lin'an]].{{sfnm|Narita|1966|1p=13|Carter|1925|2p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=PgEYAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA3 3]}} A great ceremony was held for the new mausoleum, though it fell into ruin again and was restored in 1955.{{sfnm|Narita|1966|1p=13|Carter|1925|2p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=PgEYAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA3 3]}} Today, the temple still stands in Leiyang as the {{ill|Cai Lun Temple|zh|蔡侯祠}} near a pool, renamed the "Cai Lun Pool", that was thought to be near Cai's home.{{sfn|Carter|1925|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=PgEYAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA3 3]}} In the Song dynasty, Fei Chu ({{floruit|1265}}{{sfn|Tsien|1985|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=Lx-9mS6Aa4wC&pg=PA47 47]}}) said there was a temple in [[Chengdu]] where hundreds of families in the papermaking business would come to worship Cai.{{sfn|Tsien|1985|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=Lx-9mS6Aa4wC&pg=PA48 48]}}

[[File:Cai Lun's Tomb.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Cai Lun's traditional tomb, {{ill|Longting, Yangxian|zh|龙亭镇 (洋县)|lt=Longting}}, [[Hanzhong]], [[Shaanxi Province]].]]
During the late [[Qing dynasty]], papermakers created religious groups, known as either "spirit-money associations" ({{Transliteration|zh|shenfubang}}) or "Cai Lun associations" ({{Transliteration|zh|Cai Lun hui}}).{{sfn|Eyferth|2009|p=98}} In 1839, the {{Transliteration|zh|shenfubang}} from the town of Yingjiang was sued by {{Transliteration|zh|shenfubangs}} in Macun and Zhongxing of [[Jiajiang County]], [[Sichuan]].{{sfn|Eyferth|2019|p=208}} The conflict began when the {{Transliteration|zh|shenfubang}} of Yingjiang claimed that their statue of Cai—which they carried throughout Jiajiang County annually—gave them ritual supremacy over Macun and Zhongxing papermakers, whom they demanded pay for and take part in their celebrations.{{sfn|Eyferth|2019|p=208}} The {{Transliteration|zh|shenfubangs}} from Macun and Zhongxing denied the demand, citing their long history of worshipping Cai, which resulted in increasing conflict between the sides and eventually a lawsuit.{{sfn|Eyferth|2019|p=208}} The [[county magistrate]] reproached both parties for descending into conflict and said: "Did they not understand that all of them owed their livelihood to Lord Cai, who had taught them the art of papermaking? Were they not all disciples of Lord Cai, who wanted them to share the benefits of the trade?"{{sfn|Eyferth|2019|p=209}}

In the 21st century, Leiyang is still famous as Cai's birthplace and has active paper production.{{sfn|Holdstock|2018|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=7-mKDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA101 101]}} His traditional tomb lays in the Cai Lun Paper Culture Museum of Longting, [[Hanzhong]], Shaanxi Province.{{sfn|Wang|2015}} In modern-day China, Cai's name is closely associated with paper,{{sfn|Carter|1925|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=PgEYAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA3 3]}} and is the namesake of at least five roads: Cailun Road, [[Pudong]], Shanghai;{{sfn|''Google Maps'' a}} Cailun Road, [[Minhang District]], Shanghai;{{sfn|''Google Maps'' b}} Cailun Road, [[Fuyang District]], [[Hangzhou]], [[Zhejiang]];{{sfn|''Google Maps'' c}} Cailun Road East Crossing, [[Weiyang District, Xi'an|Weiyang District]], [[Xi'an]];{{sfn|''Google Maps'' d}} and Cailun Road, [[Yaohai District]], [[Hefei]], [[Anhui]].{{sfn|''Google Maps'' e}}