Su Shi (1037–1101) was a preeminent literatus, poet, calligrapher, and painter of the Northern Song dynasty. His courtesy name was Zizhan, and he adopted the literary sobriquet “Dongpo Jushi” (Householder of the Eastern Slope). Born in Meishan, Meizhou (in present-day Sichuan Province), he is collectively known with his father Su Xun and younger brother Su Zhe as the “Three Sus”, all of whom are counted among the Eight Great Prose Masters of the Tang and Song.
From an early age, Su Shi received an excellent family education. He was deeply influenced by his father’s scholarly rigor, while his mother, Lady Cheng, instilled in him moral integrity by recounting the story of Fan Pang, a righteous official from the Eastern Han dynasty who chose death over compromising his principles.
In 1057 (the second year of the Jiayou reign), Su Shi and his brother Su Zhe both passed the prestigious imperial civil service examinations in the same year – an extraordinary achievement that brought them immediate fame.
During the reign of Emperor Shenzong, Su Shi served in the Historiography Institute. However, due to his opposition to Wang Anshi’s New Policies, he requested transfer to provincial posts. He subsequently held positions as Vice Prefect of Hangzhou, and later as Prefect of Mizhou, Xuzhou, and Huzhou.
In 1079, he was implicated in the infamous “Crow Terrace Poetry Case“, accused of composing poems that “defamed the court.” As punishment, he was exiled to Huangzhou (modern-day Huanggang, Hubei), where he lived under supervision and adopted the name Dongpo Jushi (Su Dongpo).
Under Emperor Zhezong, Su Shi was recalled to the capital and appointed Hanlin Academician. He again served as Prefect of Hangzhou and Yingzhou, eventually rising to the post of Minister of Rites. However, after political tides shifted once more, he was again demoted – first to Huizhou in Guangdong, and later further banished to Dan Prefecture (Danzhou, on Hainan Island), the southernmost and harshest exile destination at the time.
After being granted amnesty and returning northward in 1100, Su Shi died the following year in Changzhou. In the Southern Song dynasty, he was posthumously honored with the title “Wenzhong” (“Cultured and Loyal”).
Su Shi was a true polymath whose creative genius spanned multiple artistic domains:
- His poetry is celebrated for its freshness, vigor, and masterful use of hyperbole and metaphor, earning him, alongside Huang Tingjian, the joint epithet “Su-Huang”.
- In ci poetry (song lyrics), he pioneered the bold and unrestrained style, later paired with the Southern Song master Xin Qiji as “Su-Xin”.
- His prose is powerful and flowing, often compared with Ouyang Xiu as “Ou-Su”, and he stands as a pillar of the Eight Great Prose Masters.
- In calligraphy, excelling in running script and regular script, he is grouped with Cai Xiang, Huang Tingjian, and Mi Fu as one of the “Four Masters of the Song Dynasty”. His Cold Food Observance Poems (Hanshi Tie) is revered as the “Third Greatest Running Script in the World”.
- A proponent of literati expressive painting, he specialized in ancient trees and bamboo groves, achieving equal renown with Wen Tong as a leading figure of the Huzhou School of ink bamboo painting.
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