Su Shi, who was unjustly wronged and imprisoned unjustly, was demoted to deputy envoy of Huangzhou Tuanlian shortly after the "Wutai Poetry Case" was concluded. Fortunately, the local officials in Huangzhou admired his personality and talent, and not only left him unchecked, they often allowed him to enjoy sightseeing in the area. However, Su Dongpo, who was passionate and happy, would write poems and articles every time he visited. "Ode to the Former Chibi" and "Ode to the Later Chibi" are the immortal masterpieces left over from this period.
Most of the author's previous travel prose were mainly about describing the scenery during his travels or borrowing scenes from his travels to express his feelings. However, many of Dongpo's proses created a new way of writing. In these articles, the author does not focus on describing the scene, but mainly explains the philosophy and expresses the discussion. The unique style of making use of topics and setting up arguments through scenes runs through the lines. "Qian Chibi Fu" is a representative work of this new type of travel notes.
In the fifth year of Yuanfeng (1082), the fifth year of Emperor Shenzong of the Song Dynasty (1082), which was the early autumn of the third year when Su Shi was exiled to Huangzhou, he and his friends drove a small boat to the Yangtze River at the foot of Red Cliff in Huanggang to enjoy the moon. A wheel is reflected on the calm river surface, a cool breeze blows slowly, and the vast river is covered with white dew. The water and mountains are reflected in the sky and the moon at night. The host and guest are drinking in the boat, and after the wine is full, the ears are warm, and the melancholy sound of the cave flute is played on the side. The song then leads to the guest's sadness of longing for the past and sighs about life from the sound of the flute, which is like resentment, admiration, and weeping. The article also changes from emotion to reason, from the expression of emotion to the smooth expression of philosophy. Then Su Zi's answers revealed the main theme of the whole article. The theory of "change" and "immutability" and the view that "everything has its own owner" are like a "stunned" panacea, making the guests finally "laugh with joy" .
The whole text of "Red Cliff Ode" is run through scenery. "Wind" and "Moon" are the main scenery, supplemented by "Mountain" and "Water". The whole text closely follows the wind and moon to develop description and discussion. . The book opens with the scene of wind and moon, and the images of wind and moon are repeatedly reproduced in the text. The phrase "strike the sky and trace the flowing light" in the song is a transition from scenery to theory. The guest's sadness originated from Cao Cao's "moon and stars are sparse", and finally "embracing the bright moon and ending up", and "leaving its legacy to the sad wind" are still inseparable from the two words "wind" and "moon". Su Zi's answer also comes from the perspective of the cool breeze and the bright moon: But the cool breeze on the river and the bright moon on the mountain can be heard by the ears and become sounds, and the eyes can see them and form colors. They can be taken without restraint and used inexhaustibly. They are the creators of creation. There is no end to the treasure, but I and my son are the most suitable. The coherence of the scenery not only makes the whole text seem unified and exquisite in structure, but also communicates the emotional context and ups and downs of the whole text. The scene description at the beginning is the author's open-minded and optimistic appearance; "singing while leaning on the side of the boat" is born from the "empty" and "streaming light" scenery, and is the transition from "joyful" to "stunned"; The guest expressed his sorrow to the wind and moon, and his mood turned into a low and negative mood; in the end, the bright moon and the breeze in front of him led to discussions on the changes of all things and the philosophy of life, thus dispelling the sentimentality in his heart. The repeated interspersing of scenery does not give people the feeling of repetition and procrastination at all. Instead, it expresses the waxing and waning of the characters' sadness and joy while reproducing the changing process of the author's ambivalence, and finally achieves the perfect unity of the poetic and artistic meaning of the full text and the theoretical interest of the argument.
The reason why "Chibi Fu" is the representative work of Su Shi's prose is because this article almost covers the main stylistic features of Su Shi's prose. Since the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, many literati have pointed out that Su Wen's style is "tide-like" and "bo", while some say it is "sweaty", "smooth", and "surges thousands of miles, pure and powerful", which is indeed the case. It makes sense, but it's not comprehensive or precise enough. Judging from "Chibi Fu", Su Wen's style is a kind of free and bold, unbridled and vigorous masculine beauty. Regardless of reasoning, narrative, or lyricism, the article can "give shape to the object" and exhaust the form. When writing about happiness, it can become an immortal and float away from the world; when describing sadness, it can also compare it to a moving dragon or a weeping woman. Su Wen's ease, liveliness and smoothness are not difficult to find in "Red Cliff Ode", such as "Fang Qi broke through Jingzhou, went down to Jiangling, followed the river to the east, sailed boats thousands of miles away, covered the sky with flags, and drank wine by the river. Hengshu wrote poems, which made him a hero for a lifetime, and now he is safe! "Such a sentence is really in one go, like "flowing clouds and flowing water", flowing freely. As for the concise and vivid language, simple and sincere words, it can be mentioned in the article without any effort.
The word "wandering" in "wandering between bullfights" and the word "miao" in "a drop in the ocean" are all very precise, and read like the sound of metal and stone. "Red Cliff Ode" also fully reflects the natural, easy and clear characteristics of Su Shi's prose. That pure and natural beauty has brought unforgettable artistic enjoyment to countless readers throughout the ages.