Su Dongpo and Su Shi were writers and painters in the Northern Song Dynasty. He was one of the eight masters in the Tang and Song Dynasties, and he was also called "Three Sus" with his father Su Xun and his brother Su. Su Dongpo abides by traditional etiquette in politics, but he has the ambition to change the four evils, so his official career is ups and downs. His personality is heroic, and his poems are bold, fresh and vigorous, which created the unrestrained school. He is open-minded, and although calligraphy is learned from the ancients, it can create new ideas and be full of childlike interest. At the same time, he is good at painting and likes making strange stones. Su Dongpo claimed that there were three inferior things in his life, namely, drinking, playing chess and singing, but his poems, books and paintings were praised by later generations.
First, scholarly family.
Su Shi, whose name is Zi Zhan, is also Yu and Zhong, and his name is Dongpo layman. Meishan, Meizhou (now meishan county, Sichuan) was born in the middle of the Northern Song Dynasty, that is, December 19th, the third year of Emperor Renzong's reign. Mother Cheng's family is the daughter Cheng of Dari Akagi (equivalent to the President of the Supreme Court). She comes from a scholarly family. Because she has been exposed since she was a child, her moral character and knowledge are quite good. Su Shi is lucky to have such a mother, so she can receive a good tutor. Grandfather Su Xun and others are happy about his birth. Three years later, my younger brother Su Zhe was born. According to the Su Family Tree compiled by Su Xun, Su's ancestors can be traced back to Su Weidao, a famous scholar in the Tang Dynasty. But the truth is hard to determine, but what is certain is that Su Shi's ancestors can be traced back to Su Jian five dynasties ago.
Su Xun, Su Shi's father, is eager to take the imperial examination. However, it was too late for him to start studying, about the time after Su Shi was born. He has been standing for several years, but he has repeatedly failed, and he can only sigh that he is incompetent. Therefore, he has great expectations for Su Shi and Su Zhe. Soon after Su Shi was born, Su Xun went to Kyoto to study, so Su Shi was never taught by his father until he was eight years old. He was originally inspired by his mother. Later, Cheng was deeply convinced of Taoism and ordered him to worship Zhang Weishi, a Taoist priest in Tianqing, and study with more than 100 young children in the town. Su Shi and Chen Taichu, who later became local collectors, are often praised by Mr. Private Pad. At that time, the children of official families in China generally hired tutors to teach their studies at home, while Su Shi and the children in the town sat in private seats of Taoism to study, which was a very common educational place for ordinary people. The children who study in private schools are all children of businessmen and farmers. Su Wan spent his childhood in a private school, which cultivated his common character and was of great benefit to his future career as an official.
Su Shi studied in Tianqing Pavilion for three years. At the age of ten, his mother taught him to read the Book of the Later Han Dynasty. When he read the biography of Fan Bangguan, he was deeply moved. She sighed unconsciously and said to her mother, "If her son is like slanderers, will her mother be happy?" Cheng said, "If you can slander like Fan, can't I be honored as the mother of Fan?" Because Su Shi was gifted at an early age, he made rapid progress under the guidance of his mother.
Second, the famous Beijing earthquake.
Su Shi had been studying in Meishan, his hometown, until he was twenty. In the first year of Renzong Jiaku (AD 1056), he and his younger brother Su Zhe left Meishan with their father for the first time and rushed to Beijing to take the imperial examination. The two brothers who successfully passed the preliminary examination this year took part in the imperial examination the following spring, and Su Shi became a scholar in one fell swoop. The heroes (invigilators) of the imperial examination were the famous literary leaders Ouyang Xiu and Mei at that time. Ouyang Xiu advocated classical Chinese with all his heart, in order to save the flashy and illusory evil in the literary world at that time. When he read Su Shi's article "On Loyalty in Punishment", he was very surprised and thought it was the work of his student Ceng Gong. He wanted to win the first place, but he thought about it for a long time and finally won the second place (later to avoid favoritism), and Su Shi's Spring and Autumn Meaning won the first place. During the entrance examination (the emperor personally took the oral examination), he put forward 25 suggestions, which were appreciated by Emperor Renzong, so he rated Su Shi as a bachelor of Hanlin. Ouyang Xiu said to the people at that time: "I want to avoid this person and go out." It means "I want to avoid him and let him get ahead", which shows Ouyang Xiu's love at that time. Later, Su Shi and Su Zhe both worshipped Ouyang Xiu as their teachers.
Dongpo got married in his hometown before going to Beijing for the exam. Su Shi's mother, Shi Cheng, fell ill and died in April of the second year of Jiayou. Su Jiayou lived for four years, and the mourning period has passed. Father and son once again sailed to Beijing along the Minjiang River and the Yangtze River waterway. In the sixth year of Jiayou, Su Shi and Su Zhe took the system examination under the recommendation of their tutor Ouyang Xiu. This year, they held an honest and modest exam. Su Shi took the third grade and Su Zhe took the fourth grade. The results of this department are divided into five grades. There are no examples of taking the first and second grades in the Song Dynasty, and the third grade is usually the highest score. According to legend, at that time, Renzong was ecstatic and said to Empress Cao Zhi: "Pi is the two prime ministers of later generations." The two people mentioned by Injong refer to Su Shi and Su Zhe. Sue's two brothers are looking forward to becoming prime ministers one day, and their pro-Su Xun is also delighted.
On November 19th, 6th year of Jiayou, Su Shi was appointed as a judge of Fengxiang Prefecture, that is, an assistant magistrate, equivalent to a deputy magistrate. When he took office, Su Zhe sent him all the way to Zhengxinmen, the outer city of Kyoto leading to the west, and reluctantly parted from his brother. Later, Su Shi put a poem "Farewell Poetry" written at that time at the head of the forty volumes of Dongpo Collection, indicating that this poem was his first work.
In the spring of his second year as a judge in Fengxiang, because it didn't rain for a long time, the severe drought made people's lives difficult. Later, he was ordered by his superiors to go to Taibai Mountain for rain. Then it rained, so a pavilion was built in the north of Fufeng's official residence. QuotXi Yu Ting ",he also wrote a poem" Xi Yu Ting Ji "for this matter, expressing the joy of meeting the rain after a long drought with a light tone.
Third, oppose political reform.
After Yingzong succeeded to the throne, Han Qi became an envoy to Shanling. On the surface, he took care of Su Shi, but in fact he was a little jealous of his talent, so Su Shi was very careful. In order to meet the needs of Shanling, he compiled many rafts and bamboo rafts and tried to go down the Weihe River, but the water was too shallow and the rafts stopped. He was so anxious that he spent five months trying to ship them out. Later, the Xixia people invaded, and people on the border were very afraid. He ran around day and night, supplying rations and food to the people, and it was very hard.
Besides being tired from work, Su Shi has to deal with various relationships in officialdom. Because the sage teachings he learned before are far from the political reality, as a warm-blooded young man, he is extremely worried about his new official position. In the winter of the second year of Yingzong Zhiping (AD 1065), after Fengxiang's term expired, Su Shi couldn't wait to rush back to Kaifeng, the capital where his father and brother lived. Unexpectedly, his beloved wife died the next year (his wife, Wang Fu, is the daughter of a local tribute scholar, who is knowledgeable, literate and poetic. She married Dongpo at the age of sixteen and later gave birth to her son Mai Su, but unfortunately, she died at the age of twenty-seven. Less than a year later, her father died with her, and Su Shi returned to his hometown of Meishan by boat with a heavy heart.
In the first year of Xining, Zongshen ascended the throne, and Su Shi left his hometown after his mourning period. The following year, he became an official in charge of the official language book. At this time, a new situation appeared in politics. In order to save the national finance facing difficulties, Zong Shen appointed Wang Anshi as prime minister and promoted the new law he advocated. Su Shi's political thought is conservative. Although he was dissatisfied with the social situation at that time, he did not fully support Wang Anshi's reform thought. He believes that the key to the problem is not the legal system, but the official management. He hoped that the reform could be carried out in a more moderate way, and if it was to be carried out, it should be carried out step by step, instead of the reform of the Anshi Rebellion in Rainbow, which was eager for success. Therefore, he kept writing to Zongshen, presenting "On the Miscellaneous School and Palace Opera", "On Buying Zhejiang Lamps", and "Later Han Dynasty" and "Wan Yan Shu", but they were not accepted by Zongshen. Therefore, Su Shi became a member of the old legalists who opposed Wang Anshi and other new legalists at that time, and was politically excluded. There are even people who falsely accuse Su Shi of selling illicit salt.
In the fourth year of Xining (A.D. 107 1), 36-year-old Su Shi saw that the overall situation of political reform had been decided, and it was useless to oppose it. Moreover, he didn't want to be involved in the vortex of sectarian struggle, so he asked to be transferred to Hangzhou (now Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province), but he felt a little sad and lost.
Hangzhou is a place with beautiful scenery. After Su Shi finished his official business, he went around to relieve his worries. He not only made many intimate friends here, but also wrote many poems, such as the famous Rain after Drinking, Lake Chuqing, and Drunk Book of Wang Hulou on June 27th. On the contrary, political frustration prompted Dongpo to experience a richer life as a poet, and since then, he has opened up a broader literary field.
In the seventh year of Xining (AD 1074), Su Shi voluntarily transferred to Mizhou (now Zhucheng County, Shandong Province), which was very close to Jinan where Su Zhe worked. He also created many famous literary works in Mizhou, such as The Story of Transcendence, The Mid-Autumn Festival with Mink Head and Child, The Hunting of Jiangchengzi in Mizhou, etc.