Su Shi
Su Shi was a writer, poet, artist,
calligrapher and statesman of the
Song Dynasty, one of the major poets of the Song era. His
zi or courtesy name is
Zizhan and his
hao or pseudonym Dongpo Jushi
Encyclopedia
Su Shi was a writer, poet, artist,
calligrapher and statesman of the
Song Dynasty, one of the major poets of the Song era. His
zi or courtesy name is
Zizhan and his
hao or pseudonym
Dongpo JushiLife
Su Shi was born in
Meishan, near mount Emei in what is now
Sichuan province. His brother Su Che and his father Su Xun were both famous literati. In 1057, he and his brother passed the municipal
civil service examinations to attain the degree of
jinshi, a prerequisite for high government office at that time. Throughout the next twenty years, he held a variety of government positions throughout
China; most notably in
Hangzhou, where he was responsible for constructing a pedestrian causeway across the
West Lake that still bears his name:
sudi .
He was often at odds with a political faction headed by
Wang Anshi. This faction's rise to power eventually resulted in Su Shi being exiled twice to remote places; first to Huangzhou , and the second time to
Huizhou and
Hainan island. The Dongpo Academy in Hainan was built on the site of his residence in exile. In Huangzhou, Su Shi lived at a farm called Dongpo , from which he took his literary pseudonym. He died in
Changzhou,
Jiangsu province.
Work
Su Dongpo excelled in the
shi,
ci and
fu forms, as well as prose,
calligraphy and
painting; some of his notable poems include the First and Second
Chibifu ,
and
Shui diao ge tou . The bulk of his poems are
shi, but his poetic fame rests largely on his 350
ci. He founded the haofang school, which cultivated an attitude of heroic abandon. In both his written works and his visual art, he combined spontaneity, objectivity and vivid descriptions of natural phenomena. He also wrote essays on politics and governance such as
Liuhoulun .
Trivia
It is said that, once during his free time, Su Dongpo decided to make
stewed pork out of boredom. Then an old friend visited him in the middle of the cooking and challenged him to a game of
Chinese chess. Su had totally forgotten of the stew during the game until a very fragrant smell came out from his kitchen and he was reminded of it. Thus Dongpo's Pork , a famous dish in Chinese cuisine, was discovered by accident.
External links
References
, written and illustrated by Demi, ISBN 978-1-58430-256-8. A tribute to the spirited life of one of China's greatest literary and historical heroes—poet, scholar, and statesman Su Dongpo.
