It is classical Chinese
When Su Dongpo was eight to ten years old, his father came to Beijing to take the exam. After losing the throne, he traveled to the Jianghuai area, and his mother disciplined the children at home. During this period, an incident occurred at home, which is recorded in the biography of Su Dongpo, a historian of the Song Dynasty, and in the long inscription written by Su Che for his mother. The mother was teaching her children the book of the Later Han Dynasty. The book records that in the Later Han Dynasty, the government was not repaired and the political power fell into the hands of eunuchs. At that time, scholars and Confucian scholars resisted the rule of villains who were neither yin nor yang. Greed, bribery, extortion, and indiscriminate arrest of innocent people are common. Because the local officials are all lackeys supported by the eunuchs, loyal and honest people and imperial students, they risk their lives and write letters to impeach traitors. Voices of reform and protest are rising one after another, and investigations and trials are happening one after another. At that time, scholars and imperial students were either tortured, persecuted or murdered under the imperial edict.
Among this group of decent scholars, there was a brave and fearless young man named Fan Pang, and Su Xun's wife taught her son to read "The Biography of Fan Pang".
In the second year of Jianning, the party members were sent to be executed, and Pang and others were urgently arrested. Supervisor Wu Dao went to the county and held the imperial edict in his arms. He heard that he lay down on his bed and cried. When Pang heard about it, he said: "It must be for me." That is why he committed suicide. The county magistrate Guo Yi was shocked. When he came out of Jieyin, both Gong and Wei died. He said: "The world is so big, why are you here?" My mother is separated!" His mother said goodbye to him. Pang Yu's mother said: "Zhong Bo's filial piety is enough to provide for him. Pang returned to Huangquan from Long Shujun, and he will live and die in his own place. However, I can't bear to cut off my unbearable kindness, so don't increase my feelings!" His mother said: "Now you are as famous as Li and Du. "How can I hate to die? If I already have my name, how can I have both of them?" He knelt down to receive instruction, then bowed and said goodbye. Gu said to his son: "If I want you to do evil, then you cannot do evil; if I want you to do good, then I will not do evil." Everyone who hears this on the road will shed tears. He was thirty-three years old.
Xiao Dongpo looked up at his mother and asked: "Mom, if I grow up to be a person like Fan Pang, would you be willing?" His mother replied: "If you can be Fan Pang, , can’t I be Fan Pang’s mother?”
Dongpo entered school at the age of six. This private school is not small, with more than a hundred students, and only one teacher, a Taoist priest. Su Dongpo's extremely clever young mind soon became apparent. Among so many schoolchildren, Su Dongpo and another student were the most praised by the teacher. That student was Chen Taichu. He later passed the imperial examination, but became a Taoist priest and wanted to become an immortal. In his later years, Chen Dachu had been preparing to ascend during the day. One day, he went to visit a friend. Friends gave him food and money. After he went out, he scattered all the food and money among the poor, and sat cross-legged outside the door to meditate. Without eating the fireworks of the world, he prepared to escape from the hustle and bustle of this mortal world. A few days later, he took his last breath without moving. The friend asked his servants to remove his body. But it was New Year's Day, and the servants were reluctant to carry the body on such an auspicious day of the year. But the dead man said: "It doesn't matter, I can carry it myself." He stood up, walked to the wild by himself, and died in a more comfortable place. This is what is generally called the "daytime ascension" of Taoist practitioners.
When he was young, Su Dongpo had many interests besides reading. After school, he went home and peeked into the bird's nest. His mother had strictly warned Dongpo and the maids at home not to catch birds. For this reason, after a few years, the birds learned that they would not be harmed in the garden, and some made nests on the branches of the garden, low enough that children could see them. There was a little bird with extremely beautiful and bright feathers that came to his garden for several days in a row. Su Dongpo remembered this little bird very clearly.
Sometimes, officials pass by Meishan Town and visit the Su family, because Dongpo's uncle has become an official. There was a lot of bustle in the house, and the maid ran around barefoot, going to the vegetable garden to pick vegetables and kill chickens to prepare a banquet for the guests. This situation left a deep impression on the children.
Dongpo and his cousins ??often played around his mother. He and his younger brother Zhe often went to the village to go to the market or dig soil in the vegetable garden. One day, the children dug out a beautiful stone slab, which was crystal clear and had exquisite green stripes. When they struck, they made a crisp metallic sound. They wanted to use it as an inkstone, and it was very practical. The inkstone must be made of a special stone with pores that is good at absorbing moisture and good at retaining moisture. This kind of good inkstone is very important to the art of calligraphy. A high-quality inkstone is often regarded as a treasure by literati. A good inkstone is an important item on the literati's desk, because most of the literati's daily life is closely related to it. The father gives the child an inkstone, which he must keep until he grows up. He also has to carve special words on the inkstone to wish his literary fame in the future.
According to some written records, Su Dongpo was able to write amazing poems when he was ten years old. In his "Ode to the Sharp Rat", we found two sentences. This short text describes a cunning little mouse who fell into an earthen urn, pretended to be dead, and then ran away quickly after the urn fell to the ground. This deceived people. At about this time, his teacher was reading a long poem describing a group of famous scholars in the imperial court at that time. Su Dongpo, a young schoolboy, peeked behind the teacher's shoulder and began to ask questions related to them. They are all celebrities in Chinese history, because during Su Dongpo's childhood, China was under the rule of the wisest monarch of the Song Dynasty, who strongly rewarded literature and art.
The country was peaceful and peaceful, and the nomadic tribes in the north and northwest of China, such as the Jin, Liao, and Xixia tribes, who had often invaded China, were now at peace with the Song Dynasty. Under such a court, virtuous ministers were in office, and a number of outstanding literary and talented people were favored and favored, serving the emperor and embellishing the peace. It was at this time that the young boy Su Dongpo heard the names of Ouyang Xiu, Fan Zhongyan and others for the first time, and he was deeply inspired. Fortunately, in the childhood life of this great poet, we still have these foreshadowings of his future rise. Although Su Dongpo recorded many dreams he had during his adult life and unfinished poems in his dreams, there are no unintentional words that modern biographers could use to combine them with explanations, intuitions, and fantasies to fabricate the story of Su Dongpo. The structural form of neurosis in the poet's subconscious. Su Dongpo didn't mention diapers or constipation at all.
When Su Dongpo was eleven years old, he entered a secondary school and prepared seriously for the imperial examination. In order to prepare for the exam, students must read classics and epics, and must read classics and ancient books so well that they can recite them. When reciting in class, students must stand with their backs to the teacher to avoid peeking at the articles open on the teacher's desk. Students who are willing to work hard memorize the entire text in the history book. When endorsing, you should not only pay attention to the content and knowledge of the article, but also the wording, because the vocabulary used in writing the article is learned from this. Using famous words and allusions without stating their origin clearly, a well-educated person will enjoy elegance and extraordinary pleasure when reading them. This is a kind of language used by people who are in good health and well together. Readers admire the author for being able to write such articles, and feel proud that they can understand them after reading them. The happiness gained by the author and readers comes from the suggestion and association of ideas. This kind of suggestion is more powerful and moving than the truth, because once the word is revealed, the charm of suggestion is insignificant.
This kind of reciting and memorizing is really a difficult and laborious task. The traditional old method is to ask students to memorize a whole book. The book is not punctuated and students are asked to punctuate it to test whether the students understand thoroughly. The students who studied the hardest could copy the classics and official histories. Su Dongpo also used this method when he was studying. If you think a little about the simple classics of Chinese poetry and the common allusions in official history such as names, accidental metaphors, etc., this method of reading has its own advantages. Because after copying a book word for word, you will have a deeper understanding of that book than just reading it many times. This learning method will be of great benefit to Su Dongpo in the future, because whenever he advises the emperor or drafts an imperial edict for the emperor, or when citing historical examples, he will never be at a loss, just like a modern lawyer citing judicial precedents. generally. Furthermore, while copying books, he could practice calligraphy.
Before the invention of printing, this kind of copying work was inevitable, but by the time of Su Dongpo, books had been printed for about a hundred years. Movable clay type printing was invented by Bi Sheng, an ordinary businessman. The method is to make individual characters from a special kind of clay. After the characters are carved, the clay hardens; then the characters are placed on a metal plate coated with a layer of gum. After the character plates are arranged in rows, the glue is heated. Use a flat metal plate to press on the arranged lettering boards to make each lettering completely flat. After the printing is completed, the rubber is heated, and each character plate will easily fall off the metal plate, which can be cleaned and reused next time.
While Su Dongpo and his younger brother Su Che were familiar with a large number of literary classics, his father returned home after failing the exam. The imperial examinations at that time had their own fixed rules and forms. Like a modern PhD thesis in philosophy. Those kinds of exams back then required meeting certain standards, a certain level of hard work, a good memory for remembering facts, and of course, normal intelligence. When intelligence and creativity are too high, it will be an obstacle to passing the exam, not a benefit. Many talented writers, such as the poet Qin Shaoyou, have always failed the exam. Su Xun's failure was most likely due to his poetry writing. Poetry examinations require considerable artistic elegance and sophisticated phrasing, while Su Xun mainly focuses on ideological concepts. Because apart from teaching, official career is the only path to glory and success for scholars. His father must have been upset and dejected when he returned home.
The younger generation reads the classics loudly, while the older generation leans on the bed and listens. The clear and melodious voice is heard by the older generation, which is regarded as one of the joys of life. In this way, the father can correct his son's pronunciation errors, because beginners naturally have many difficulties in reading classics. Just like Ouyang Xiu and later Su Dongpo both leaned on the bed and listened to their sons reading, now Su Xun is also leaning on the bed listening to the sweet sounds of his two sons reading. His eyes are fixed on the ceiling, and his mood is probably like a hunter shooting his last arrow. But failing to shoot the deer is like setting up a new arrow and asking the son to shoot again. The child's eyes and loud voice convinced the father that they would succeed in their pursuit of fame, and the father's hope was restored, and his wounded honor was healed without medicine. At this time, the two young sons may have surpassed Nai's father in terms of memorizing classics and history and excellent calligraphy, and Xiao Feng is now clearer than Lao Feng. Later, one of Su Dongpo's students once said that Su Xun was more talented, but as a son, Su Dongpo was more knowledgeable than his father in academic thinking. Su Xun has not completely given up on fame. Although he failed to pass the exam, if he still cannot have faith in his son's high school because of this, then he is the biggest idiot in the world. I say this without any disrespect to the father, because he taught his son in a pure and elegant literary style, and taught him how to study history and govern deeply, and even the prosperity and decline of a country. We are not unaware of this.
Fortunately for Su Dongpo, his father always insisted on the simple style of his articles and warned against the gorgeous and extravagant habits that were popular at that time; because later when the young student came to Beijing to take the exam, the Minister of Rites and the Examiner of the Ministry of Rites Ouyang Xiu was determined to launch a movement to reform the literary style, so he took advantage of this opportunity to exclude all students who were only addicted to polished and elegant writing with refined sentences and rhetoric. The so-called gorgeous style can be said to be the accumulation of difficult words and obscure and rare allusions in order to achieve the beauty of the article. In such articles, it is difficult to find one or two simple and natural sentences. The most taboo thing is to refer to things by their names, and the most fearful thing is plain and simple sentences. Su Dongpo said that in this kind of ostentatious article, the sentence structure and wording are independent of each other, regardless of the overall effect, just like the old concubine who wears gorgeous jewelry on each neck and arm on the opening day of a play.
The atmosphere in this family is just suitable for the development of young people with literary genius. The shelves are full of books of all kinds. The grandfather is now very different from before, because the second son has become an official and a supervisor of affairs, and his father was also granted the title of "Dali Judge". These titles are entirely honorary, and their main benefit is that they make it easier for other officials to address them. Sometimes it seems that if you want such an official title to be engraved on your epitaph, your life will not be in vain - which is equivalent to saying that if a person is not born to be a gentleman, at least he hopes to die like one. If unfortunately you happen to die too early and have not had time to obtain this honor, there is a convenient way to obtain the title given after your death. In fact, in the Song Dynasty, even the titles of official officials in the court had little to do with their real duties. When readers look at the epitaphs of the Su family, it is easy to mistakenly think that Su Dongpo's grandfather served as a judge in Dali and even as a Taifu, and that his father also served as a Prince and Taifu - in fact, these honorary titles were all attributed to Su Che's disciples. It was awarded by the imperial court when I was the minister. Su Dongpo had an uncle who was an official at this time, and his two aunts were also married to officials. Thus both his grandfather and his maternal grandfather had official titles, one honorary and the other practical, as has been said.
In the Su family, the person who grew up and studied with Dongpo and would have the closest relationship with him in the future was his younger brother Zhe, also named Ziyou. The friendship between their brothers and the deep brotherhood in the subsequent ups and downs, prosperity and decline, are the themes that Su Dongpo, the poet, has sung throughout his life. The two brothers comforted each other when they were sad, helped each other in times of trouble, met each other in dreams, wrote poems and sent each other messages to communicate with each other. Even in China, a country of ethics and morality, such beauty of friendship between brothers is unusual. Su Ziyou's natural temperament was calm and cold, steady and practical. In the officialdom, he was actually prouder than his brother and had a higher official position. Although the two had the same views on politics and had the same ups and downs in the officialdom, Ziyou was calm and alert. Every time he gave his elder brother advice and advice, his elder brother benefited greatly. Maybe he is not as stubborn and willful as his brother; maybe because he is not as talented and famous as his brother, he is not so dangerous in the eyes of his political opponents. Now when they are studying at home, Dongpo is not only a classmate but also a good teacher to his younger brother. In a poem he wrote, he said: "I have little knowledge of Ziyou, and I have a gentle and pure talent. How can I be my younger brother alone? If I were born from a virtuous friend." Ziyou also said on his brother's epitaph: "I first served as a public servant. If you have knowledge, you will be your brother if you caress me, and you will be your teacher if you teach me."
This is a good explanation of Sansu's name. According to ancient custom, a Chinese scholar has several names. In addition to the surname, a formal name must be used when signing letters and official documents. There is also a word for verbal and written address to friends. Generally, when you address a person politely, you address him by his first name without mentioning his surname, and then add the word "Mr." In addition, some scholars and literati also come up with other elegant names, which are often used on seals as the names of their studies. Once such elegant names become famous, people often refer to them by this name. Someone else published a collection of essays and poems, and others also called him by this title. In addition, there are people who hold important positions and are well-known throughout the country, and people also call him the name of his hometown. Such as Zeng Xiangxiang and Yuan Xiangcheng.
Lao Su’s name was Mingyun and his nickname was Laoquan. Laoquan was named after his hometown Zuying. The eldest son Su Shi, whose courtesy name was Zizhan, was given the nickname Dongpo. This nickname came from "Dongpo Jushi", which he named himself when he was exiled to Huangzhou. From then on, and to this day, he is known as Dongpo to the world. Got it. In Chinese history books, he is always called "Dongpo" instead of his surname, or Mr. Dongpo. His complete works are sometimes called Yifa, and are called "The Complete Works of Su Wenzhonggong". Sixty years after Dongpo's death, Emperor Xiaozong of the Song Dynasty gave "Wenzhonggong" Yifa as a gift. Literary critics often call him "Su Meizhou" after the name of his hometown. Xiao Su, whose name was Zhe and whose courtesy name was Ziyou, lived in seclusion in his later years and called himself "Yingbin Yi Lao". So some people call him "Su Yingbin". Sometimes it is also called "Su Yicheng" because its collection of works is "Yicheng Collected Works". Yicheng is very close to Zhengding, south of Peiping. The ancestor of the Su surname moved from Yicheng to Meizhou two hundred years ago.
It is quite difficult for those who study Chinese history to have so many names for a scholar. When Su Dongpo was alive, there were at least eight people named "Mengde", which meant that they all had dreams about their mother before she was pregnant. I got a son in my dream.
When Dongpo was sixteen years old, an unexpected incident happened, which strained the relationship between his family and his mother's natal family, and also gave a glimpse of his father's character. The thing is, Su Dongpo's father betrothed Dongpo's sister to a cousin of Dongpo's grandmother's family. This is common in Chinese families. It's so long ago now that we can't know the details, but the bride is not happy in the Cheng family. Maybe she was tortured by the Cheng family, but she died soon after. What happened aroused Su Xun's anger.
It seems that the new daughter-in-law's father-in-law is a bad guy. Su Xun wrote a poem that contained vicious words, blaming himself for the death of his daughter. Then, he showed an extraordinary move. He compiled a family tree, carved it on a stone, and built a pavilion on it. To celebrate this event, he invited the entire Su family to come, and he wanted to publicly denounce his wife's family in front of the whole family. After the whole tribe had offered libations to pay homage to their ancestors, Su Xun told the tribe that "someone" in the village - alluding to his wife's brother - represented a wealthy family who had caused the moral decline of the whole village; he had already killed his young nephew He drove away and monopolized the family property; he pampered his concubines, oppressed his wife, and indulged in lewd pleasures; his father and his son feasted and made noise together, and the women in the family became notorious; the family was a powerful villain, bullying the subordinates and flattering the superiors, despising the poor and loving the rich; The bright light of the vehicle makes the poor neighbors look at it sideways. His family's money and official power can influence the government. Finally, he said, "He is a big thief from thirty miles away. I dare not sue the villagers, but privately warn the clan members." "Yan." Dongpo's father naturally offended his wife's natal family to the end, but he was ready to completely sever ties with this relative, so he told his two sons never to associate with that cousin. For more than 40 years after this incident, the two Dongpo brothers had no contact with their cousin Cheng Zhicai. However, after Lao Quan's death, the Su brothers maintained a good relationship with their other cousins ??from their grandmother's family. Su Xun's challenge to wealthy families and his public condemnation of wealthy families slightly showed his fierce character and his hatred of evil. His son Dongpo also showed this characteristic in his later years.
Of course Dongpo's mother was very unhappy about this incident, and she was also very sad for her little daughter. In this conflict between relatives, it is difficult to guess whether she is on the side of her mother's family or on the side of her deceased daughter. As mentioned before, this mother is well-educated. Her father is an official in the government, and his official position is not low. As far as we know, she once rebelled against the bad habits of money and influence in her family, or at least against the evil and immoral behavior of her brother. It can be said that she suffered a heartbreaking blow, and her body deteriorated rapidly.
There is a wonderful legend popular in China, saying that Su Dongpo had a sister who was not very beautiful but was quite talented. She was quite talented in poetry and married Qin Guan, a poet and a bachelor of Su Dongpo. The story says that on their wedding night, she refused to allow the groom to enter the bridal chamber, and she had to wait until the groom made a match she proposed before opening the door for him. It was difficult to correct the first couplet. Qin Guan searched hard and couldn't get what he wanted. He was walking around anxiously in the courtyard, but Su Dongpo helped him, and he finally corrected the second couplet. There is also a story that this couple once wrote a wonderful palindrome poem, which can be read forward, backward, or even in a circle. In such stories, it is said that Su Dongpo once said to his sister: "If my sister is born as a boy, she will be more famous than my brother." Although this is nonsense, everyone is willing to believe it. Unfortunately, we can find no historical basis for this. Although Qin Guan was mentioned many times in hundreds of letters and other materials from Su Dongpo and his younger brother Ziyou, I have never been able to find any trace of any relationship between them. Among the dozens of contemporary notebooks written by Su Dongpo, there is no mention that Su Dongpo had a younger sister. Furthermore, Qin Guan met Su Dongpo for the first time when he was twenty-nine years old and already married. Su Dongpo's sister, even if there was such a talented woman, she was already about forty years old when Qin Guan first met Su Dongpo. This story later spread more and more widely and became more realistic, becoming the best fun to talk about after tea and drinks. The popularity of these folk tales among ordinary people shows how much Su Dongpo's character appealed to the Chinese people.
However, Su Dongpo had a cousin who was his first love, and he would never forget her throughout his life. After Dongpo's grandfather passed away, his father returned from a trip, and his uncle and family members also came back to attend the funeral. At this time, cousins ??have a chance to meet each other and play together. According to Su Dongpo, Yi was "kind, filial and gentle". Since the two have the same surname, there is no hope of marriage. If they were cousins ??from the grandmother's family, there would be no such difficulty. Later, this cousin married a young man named Liu Zhongyuan. Later, Su Dongpo stayed at her home in Jingjiang for three months while traveling. During those days when he stayed at his cousin's house, Dongpo wrote two poems to her. Those two poems are quite difficult to understand, unless they are regarded as love poems to my cousin. No other contemporary writer, and no one who studies Su Dongpo's life, has ever mentioned their special relationship, because no one would mention it. However, when Su Dongpo was in exile in his later years, he heard the news of his cousin's death. He wrote to his son that his "heart was cut by a knife." When he returned from exile and passed through Jingjiang, his cousin's grave was there. Although he was seriously ill at this time, he still struggled to go to the grave to pay tribute to his cousin and her husband.
The next day, several friends went to see him and found him lying on the bed, facing the wall inside, twitching and crying
Reference: The Biography of Su Dongpo