The friendship story between Su Shi and Dong Chuan originated from their meeting in Fengxiang. At that time, Dong Chuan lived in poverty and wore simple clothes. However, he was well-read in poetry and books, and was full of economics, showing an optimistic and uplifting spirit. Su Shi admired Dong Chuan's talent and character very much, and the two became close friends.
When Dong Chuan was preparing to take the imperial examination, Su Shi also wrote the poem "Farewell to Dong Chuan" for him, which expressed praise and encouragement for his talent. Among them, the sentence "The spirit of poetry and calligraphy comes from China" has become a famous aphorism to encourage future generations to study hard.
Su Shi (1037-1101), also known as Zizhan and Hezhong, was known as Tieguan Taoist and Dongpo layman. He was known as Su Dongpo, Su Xian and Po Xian in the world. A native of Meishan, Meizhou (now part of Meishan City, Sichuan Province), his ancestral home is Luancheng, Hebei Province. He was a writer, calligrapher and painter in the Northern Song Dynasty, and a famous figure in water control in history. His father is Su Xun and his younger brother is Su Zhe. The father and son are collectively known as "Three Su".
Su Shi’s main influence
Su Shi has a very spiritual eye, so he can find new ideas everywhere. Su Shi's profound thinking about life made him have a calm and broad-minded attitude towards the ups and downs of honor and disgrace, which is fully reflected in Su Shi's poems. Su Shi's poems in adversity certainly contain pain, anger, and depression, but more of Su Shi's poems express his disdain for suffering and his transcendence of pain.
Su Shi was a man of great erudition and talent, and his mastery of the artistic techniques of poetry had reached a level of proficiency. He treated artistic standards with a spirit of innovation and innovation, and whatever he wished, he could achieve success at his fingertips. Moreover, the expressive ability of Su Shi's poems is amazing. There are almost no themes in Su Shi's works that cannot be included in poems.
The late Northern Song Dynasty, represented by the "Yuanyou" poetry circle, was the heyday of Song poetry. The creations of Su Shi, Wang Anshi, Huang Tingjian, Chen Shidao and others pushed the art of Song poetry to its peak.
Reference for the above content: Baidu Encyclopedia—Su Shi