Su Shi The life journey of a literary giant and a gourmet

Mondo Gastronomy Updated on 2024-02-14

If he is in the current society, he will undoubtedly become a food lover and travel expert who is loved by the masses and has more than one million fans. Su Dongpo, the most famous poet and essayist in the Northern Song Dynasty, not only has sad and mournful works such as "Ten Years of Life and Death", but also such magnificent chapters as "Red Cliff Fu". Not only is he good at cooking, but he also studies the dishes himself, creating famous snacks such as Dongpo meat, Dongpo tofu, and Dongpo fish, which has made him also achieve remarkable achievements in the field of gastronomy. However, what is surprising is that Su Dongpo is not only an outstanding writer, but also an outstanding ** family. He loves **, especially proficient in guqin string music, and his works that have been handed down to this day are highly respected by the world. Such a person who combines talent and talent is known as an all-round art master, and he is indeed well deserved.

Mr. Su Dongpo is a self-proclaimed "Dongpo layman". He was born in 1037 A.D. in Meishan County, Meizhou City, and was a descendant of Su Weidao, the prime minister of the Tang Dynasty. Although his father Su Xun had extraordinary talents, he was too laid-back in his youth and did not begin to concentrate on his studies until he was 27 years old. Su Shi studied under his father and was educated in a family environment with his younger brother Su Zhe. In 1056 AD, Su Xun took the 21-year-old Su Shi and the 17-year-old Su Zhe to leave their hometown of Xishu and settle in the capital to take the Ministry of Rites examination. It is gratifying that Su Shi's performance in the examination room is excellent, and the article is concise and to the point, which is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, breaking through the superficial and difficult writing atmosphere since the early Song Dynasty of the Five Dynasties. Ouyang Xiu, who was the chief examiner of the exam at the time, was full of praise for his essay and originally planned to rank it first, but because he misunderstood it as the work of his student Zeng Gong, in order to avoid controversy, his essay was finally rated second. In this way, Su Shi and his younger brother Su Zhe were ranked in the same imperial examination and attracted a lot of attention.

Just as the Su brothers were preparing to go, the news of Su Shi's mother's death came, and the brothers had to return to their hometown to mourn, and soon after, their father Su Xun also died. In the next three years, Su Shi and Su Zhe each carried out a three-year filial piety action. In the later period of Shouxiao, the government appointed Su Shi to hold important positions in the court, however, at this time, the political movement - Wang Anshi's reform occurred, and many imperial courts**, including Ouyang Xiu, were forced to resign because of their opposition to reform. Similarly, Su Shi also suffered pressure and rejection because of the disadvantages of talking about reform during the previous dynasty, so he took the initiative to ask to take office, and after many transfers, he was finally transferred to Huzhou in 1079 BC.

After receiving the position, Su Shi wrote a form of gratitude to the emperor in accordance with the regulations, but it was the subtleties in this form that were misinterpreted by the new school as having other intentions. They took it out of context, interpreted Su Shi's behavior as teasing the court, and made a statement to the court to expose his disobedience. So after only 3 months of serving as the governor of Huzhou, Su Shi was immediately put on file for review because he was suspected of being involved in legal issues. The incident caused a huge repercussion, and many people were implicated. Seeing his younger brother Su Zhe begging to replace his brother with himself, Su Shi spent almost the rest of his life in exile or waiting for exile. However, no matter where he is, he is always able to revisit the life in front of him with an optimistic attitude. When he was relegated to Huangzhou, he innovatively made pork that some rich and noble families disdained and poor families could not bear, into a delicious Dongpo meat. When he was relegated to Huizhou, he was deeply fascinated by the local special fruit - lychee, and even expressed his wish to stay for a long time and become a Lingnan person. When he was relegated to the Danzhou area of Hainan, which was considered to be a nightmare at the time, although Su Shi still maintained an optimistic attitude and was still full of smiles, he also cultivated the first candidate in Hainan's history here.

His creative style is rich and diverse, with a variety of characteristics such as bold and graceful; Whether it is poetry and songs, or calligraphy and painting, they all show a very high artistic taste and profound cultural heritage. The representative work "Water Tune Song Tou Bright Moon When" has been appreciated and loved by people, his line of calligraphy and cursive respectively with Huang Tingjian, Mi Fu, Cai Xiang is known as the four major calligraphers of the Song Dynasty. In terms of literature, Su Shi kept improving, whether it was poetry, lyrics or prose, he made outstanding achievements, which can be called the peak of the literary career of the Song Dynasty.

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