清道光十二年(公元1832年),蔡元隆出生于华容县胜峰乡栗树洲一户殷实的农家,父亲为之取名源隆。源隆年幼聪颖,7岁进私塾,不久便能出口成章。蔡氏在当地是一大家族,始祖迁自福建崇安。其十三世祖蔡沈与理学大师朱熹同乡,同研理学,受朝野称颂,至明成化二年由宪宗封崇安伯。迁华容 Qing dynasty twelve years (AD 1832), Cai Yuanlong was born in Huasheng County Shengfeng Township, a well-Shixu farmhouses, his father named the source of Long. Young Long smart young, 7-year-old private school, will soon be able to export a chapter. Chua is a large family in the area, the ancestor moved from Fujian Chong’an. Its thirteenth ancestor Cai Shen and neo-Confucian master Zhu Xi fellow, with the study of science and education, praised by the government, to Ming Chenghua two years by the constitutional seal Amber. Move to capacity