Su Shi (1037-1101), a writer, calligrapher and painter in the Northern Song Dynasty. His given name was Zizhan, also given the name Hezhong, and his nickname was Dongpo Jushi. Han nationality, from Meishan, Meizhou (now part of Sichuan). Together with his father Su Xun and his younger brother Su Zhe, they are collectively known as San Su. He is an all-rounder in literature and art. His writing is unbridled, clear and fluent. Together with Ouyang Xiu, he is called Ou Su, and he is one of the eight great masters of the Tang and Song Dynasties. His poems are fresh and vigorous, good at using exaggerated metaphors, and has a unique style in artistic expression. Together with Huang Tingjian, he is called Su Huang. He was a bold and unrestrained school and had great influence on future generations. Together with Xin Qiji, he was called Su Xin. He was good at calligraphy in running script and regular script. He was able to create his own ideas. His brushwork was rich and ups and downs, and he had an innocent taste. Together with Huang Tingjian, Mi Fu and Cai Xiang, he was called the Fourth Song Dynasty. He is a scholar of painting and literature, he likes to paint dead trees and strange rocks, and he advocates spiritual resemblance in painting. His poems include "Seven Collections of Dongpo" and his poems include "Dongpo Yuefu".
Su Shi (January 8, 1037 - August 24, 1101), also known as Zizhan and Hezhong, was also known as "Dongpo Jushi" and was known as "Su Dongpo" in the world. Han nationality, a native of Meishan, Meizhou (now Meishan, Sichuan, Meishan City in the Northern Song Dynasty), and his ancestral home is Luancheng. The famous essayist, calligrapher, painter, lyricist, and poet of the Northern Song Dynasty was a representative of the Bold Ci School. Su Shi was Su Xun's second son (Su Xun's eldest son died in infancy). In 1057 (the second year of Jiayou), he and his younger brother Su Zhe were promoted to Jinshi. One of the Eight Great Masters of the Tang and Song Dynasties. "Drinking on the Lake at First Sunny and Later Rain" is an ancient poem that describes the West Lake that no one can surpass.
Su Shi was born on January 8, 1037 (December 19, the third year of Jingyou's reign) in Meishan, Meizhou (now part of Sichuan). Su Shi's father Su Xun is the "Su Laoquan" mentioned in the "Three Character Classic" who "begins to become angry at twenty-seven". Although Su Xun worked hard late, he worked very hard. In his later years, Su Shi recalled studying with his father when he was young, and felt that he was deeply influenced by his father. Of course, without Su Xun's diligent study, it would have been impossible for Su Shi to receive a good tutor at a young age, and it would have been even less possible for Su Shi to have "learned the classics and history well enough to write thousands of words a day" when he was still young. Achievement.
In 1056 (the first year of Jiayou), Su Shi, who was twenty-one years old, left Sichuan for the first time in Beijing to take part in the imperial examination. The following year, he took part in the examination of the Ministry of Rites and won the appreciation of the examiner Ouyang Xiu with his essay "On the Perfection of Honesty in Punishments and Rewards". However, because Ouyang Xiu mistakenly believed that it was written by his disciple Zeng Gong, he had to take second place in order to avoid suspicion.
In 1061 (the sixth year of Jiayou), Su Shi took the high school examination, which is commonly known as the "Three Years of Beijing Examination", and entered the third class, becoming the "No. 1 in a century", and was awarded the Dali Judgment Award. , signed the letter to the judge of Fengxiang Mansion. Later, his mother died of illness in Bianjing, and Ding You returned home to support her. In 1069 (the second year of Xining), he returned to the court after completing his service and was still granted his duties. When he entered the court as an official, it was when the political crisis began to appear in the Northern Song Dynasty. There was a crisis hidden behind the prosperity. At this time, Shenzong came to the throne and appointed Wang Anshi to support the reform. Many of Su Shi's mentors, including Ouyang Xiu, his mentor who admired him at the beginning, were forced to leave Beijing due to political disagreements with the new prime minister Wang Anshi on the implementation of the new law. The old rain in the government and the fields has withered, and what Su Shi sees in his eyes is no longer the "peaceful world" he saw when he was twenty.
On his way back to Beijing, Su Shi saw the damage caused by the new law to ordinary people, and because of his conservative political ideology, he disagreed with Wang Anshi's approach. He believed that the new law was not convenient for the people, so he wrote a letter to oppose it. One result of this was that, like his mentors and friends who were forced to leave Beijing, they were not tolerated by the court. So Su Shi asked for a post and was transferred to Hangzhou Tongpan. From then on, Su Shi had some misunderstandings about Wang Anshi and other reformists throughout his life.
Su Shi stayed in Hangzhou for three years. After his term was completed, he was transferred to Mizhou (now Zhucheng, Shandong), Xuzhou, Huzhou and other places as magistrate. His political achievements were outstanding and he won the hearts of the people.
This lasted for about ten years, and Su Shi encountered the first disaster in his life. At that time, some people (Li Ding and others) deliberately distorted his poems and made a big fuss in the name of satirizing the new law. In 1079 (the second year of Yuanfeng), less than three months after Su Shi arrived in Huzhou, he was arrested and imprisoned for writing poems that satirized the new law and weaved a web of "writings that slandered the emperor and prime minister." This is known as "Wutai Poetry" in history. case".
Su Shi spent 103 days in prison and was on the verge of being beheaded several times. Fortunately, during the Northern Song Dynasty, the national policy of not killing scholar-bureaucrats was established during the reign of Taizu Zhao Kuangyin, so Su Shi was able to escape the disaster.
After being released from prison, Su Shi was demoted to deputy envoy of regiment training in Huangzhou (now Huanggang City, Hubei Province) (equivalent to the deputy captain of the modern private self-defense force).
This position was quite humble and had no real power. At this time, Su Shi had become disheartened after this battle. After taking office, Su Shi felt depressed. He visited Chibiji outside Huangzhou many times and wrote "Red Cliff Ode" , "Hou Chibi Ode" and "Nian Nujiao·Chibi Nostalgic" and other timeless masterpieces, in order to express his thoughts and feelings when he was exiled. In his spare time, Yu Gong led his family to reclaim a piece of sloping land in the east of the city and farm to help supplement their livelihood. It was at this time that he came up with the nickname "Dongpo Jushi".
In the seventh year of Emperor Shenzong of the Song Dynasty (1084, the seventh year of Yuanfeng), Su Shi left Huangzhou and went to Ruzhou to take office. Due to the long journey and exhaustion from the journey, Su Shi's infant died unfortunately. The road to Ruzhou was far away, and the travel expenses had been exhausted. Coupled with the pain of losing his son, Su Shi wrote to the court, requesting not to go to Ruzhou for the time being, but to live in Changzhou first, which was later approved. When he was about to return south to Changzhou, Shenzong died.
The young Zhezong ascended the throne, Empress Dowager Gao took over the government, the new party headed by Wang Anshi was suppressed, and Sima Guang was re-appointed as prime minister. Su Shi returned to the imperial court and became the official of Zhidengzhou (today's Penglai, Shandong). Four months later, the doctor of the Ministry of Rites was summoned back to the court. In the first half of the morning, he was promoted to Jusheren, and three months later, he was promoted to Zhongshusheren. Soon after, he was promoted to Hanlin scholar Zhizhigao (a secretary who drafted edicts for the emperor, third grade), and was informed of the tributes of the Ministry of Rites. When Su Shi saw that the emerging forces were desperately suppressing the figures in Wang Anshi's group and abolishing the new laws, he believed that they were just the same as the so-called "royal party" and once again made suggestions to the emperor.
He criticized the corruption exposed by the old party after it came to power. As a result, he aroused strong opposition from conservative forces, and was falsely accused and framed.
Su Shi could neither be tolerated by the new party nor forgiven by the old party, so he once again asked for external transfer. As a bachelor of Longtuge, he once again went to Hangzhou to serve as the governor after an absence of sixteen years. Su Shi built a major water conservancy project in Hangzhou, dredging the West Lake and using the excavated mud to build a dam next to the West Lake, which is also the famous "Su Causeway".
Su Shi lived very comfortably in Hangzhou, comparing himself to Bai Juyi in the Tang Dynasty. But in 1091 (the sixth year of Yuanyou), he was recalled to the court. But soon he was sent to Yingzhou because of political differences. In 1093 (the eighth year of Yuanyou), Empress Dowager Gao died, Zhezong came to power, and the New Party came to power again. In June of the next year, he was appointed deputy envoy of Ningyuan Army and was demoted to Huiyang (today's Huizhou City, Guangdong) again. In 1097, Su Shi was demoted further to Danzhou (Changhua Army, today's Hainan). It is said that in the Song Dynasty, banishment to Hainan was a punishment only slightly lighter than the crime of execution. After Huizong came to the throne, he transferred Lianzhou resettlement, Shuzhou Tuanlian deputy envoy, and Yongzhou resettlement. Amnesty was granted in 1101 (the third year of Yuanfu) and he was reinstated as Chaofenglang. On his way back north, he died in Changzhou (now Jiangsu) on August 24, 1101 (July 28th of the first year of Jingguo's founding). He was buried in Jiacheng County, Ruzhou (now Jiaxian County, Henan Province) at the age of sixty-four. He was given the posthumous title Wenzhong (Gong) by the emperor.