In November 1933 Cai and fellow 19th Route Army officer Li Jishen rebelled against the ruling Kuomintang regime and, with Jiang Guangnai, established the Fujian People's Government on 22 November 1933.

However, the rebellion—known as the Fujian Incident—did not receive Communist support and, on 21 January 1934, it was defeated by the Kuomintang and Cai was forced to leave China for several years.

[1] He also traveled to the United States to gain support from Chinese-Americans for the war effort.

During the final stages of the Chinese Civil War Cai supported the Chinese Communists and was a signatory of the "Proclamation of the Central People's Government of the People's Republic of China" of 1 October 1949.

[2] Cai was originally interred at the Beijing Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery but, since 1997, his remains have been at the Memorial Mausoleum of the Martyrs of Nineteenth Route Army in the Battle Against Japanese Aggressors at North Shanghai.