Cai was born in Quanzhou, and his works often feature traditional Chinese elements, such as junks, lanterns, kites, fengshui and traditional Chinese medicine. And he speaks Mandarin with an accent not unlike natives of Taiwan's Lugang. Consequently, with regard to Taiwan, Cai has always held certain hard-to-explain feelings. When he was a student, he even thought of stealing his way onto the island.
泉州出生，作品中總是一再出現帆船、燈籠、風箏、風水和中藥等古老元素，還操著和台灣人相似、帶點鹿港腔的「閩南國語」，也因此，對於台灣，蔡國強始終有份難解的情愫，求學時甚至有過「偷渡」來台灣看看的念頭。