Why was Su Shi the most accomplished scholar in the Song Dynasty?

Su Shi has high attainments in writing and poetry, and is regarded as the representative of the highest literary achievement in Song Dynasty. He enjoyed a high reputation in the literary world at that time, and his works were well known. In the eyes of later scholars, Su Shi was a brilliant literary master. His poems not only influenced the poems and songs in the Song Dynasty, but also inspired the public security poets in the Ming Dynasty and the Song poets in the early Qing Dynasty. His ci is unique, which was inherited by the new poets in the Southern Song Dynasty, forming a pattern of bold and graceful ci, and its influence has been spread to people in the Qing Dynasty. His prose, especially his essays, is the artistic source of the public security school prose in Ming Dynasty. Apart from literature, Su Shi has made creative achievements in painting and calligraphy, and also contributed to medicine, cooking and water conservancy.

Su Shi attaches great importance to discovering and cultivating literary talents. He was surrounded by many young writers at that time. Among them, Huang Tingjian, Chao, and Qin Guan are collectively called "Four Bachelor's Degrees in Sumen". Together with Chen Shidao and Li Zhi, they are called "Six Gentlemen of Sumen". Due to Su Shi's diverse literary achievements and irregular creation, Su Men writers have their own creations. Qin Guan is good at ci, Li Zhi is good at ancient prose, and Zhang and Chao are good at poetry.

Su Shi typically embodies the cultural spirit of the Song Dynasty: (1) Su Shi's attitude towards life became a model admired by later scholars. He can advance and retreat freely, suffer humiliation and ups and downs, but he can stick to his ethics and be fully nourished. (2) Su Shi's aesthetic attitude provides an enlightenment paradigm for later generations, and opens up a brand-new world for them in subject matter, content and expression. Su Shi also remained in the minds of future generations with an amiable and humorous image. His life story is loved by later generations.