Abstract: The Song-Yuan transition constituted a great turbulence in Chinese history, in which nomadic people gained the rulership of the whole of China for the first time on the one hand and a large community of loyalists to the subjugated reign appeared for the first time in China's history on the other. Studying oversea Chinese texts, this paper reveals the "great history" of a "nobody" in restoring a Southern Song Dynasty loyalist CAI Zheng-sun's poetic activities after the Southern Song Dynasty was subjugated. Born in Jian'an, Fujian, CAI lived over ten years in Hangzhou in his youth and returned to his hometown after the collapse of the Southern Song Dynasty. Being congenial to the loyalists to the Southern Song Dynasty in the south, CAI organized a poetry club with loyalists and compiled three poetic works: Numerous Records of the Poetic Circle, On the Rules of Lianzhu Poetry from Thousands of Poets in the Tang and Song Dynasties, The Elaborate Edition and Supplement Annotation on SU Shi's Poems Echoing TAO Yuan-ming. CAI admired TAO Yuan-ming, refused to use the title of Yuan emperor's reign, regarded himself as a man of Song and insisted on his cultural identity.

Key words: CAI Zheng-sun, loyalist, Song-Yuan transition, poetry club, poetic works