Cai Yan (c. 178 – post 206; or c. 170–215; or died c. 249),[1] courtesy name Wenji, was a Chinese composer, poet, and writer who lived during the late Eastern Han dynasty of China.

Cai Yan was a daughter of Cai Yong, a famous Eastern Han dynasty scholar from Yu County (圉縣), Chenliu Commandery [zh] (陳留郡), which is around present-day Qi County, Kaifeng, Henan.

[3] Between 194 and 195, when China entered a period of chaos, the Xiongnu nomads intruded into Han territory, captured Cai, and took her back as a prisoner to the northern lands.

[4] After that, Cai married again, this time to Dong Si (董祀), a local government official from her hometown.

The famous guqin piece Eighteen Songs of a Nomad Flute is traditionally attributed to her, although the authorship is a perennial issue for scholarly debate.

[8] The stories of Cai reverberate primarily with feelings of sorrow, and inspired later artists to keep portraying her past.

[10] In 1976, a crater on Mercury was named Ts'ai Wen-Chi after Cai Wenji, citing her as "Chinese poet and composer".

She also appears in Koei's Romance of the Three Kingdoms video game series and in Dynasty Warriors 6: Empires as a non-playable character.

Her fighting style relies on casting energy balls and shock waves by strumming her harp.