The best saying of Sun Tungpo and the best description of himself was what he said to his brother:
“Up above, I can associate with the Jade Emperor of Heaven and down below I can associate with the poor folks. I think there is not a single bad person in this world.”
Su Shi, also known as Su Tungpo, was a writer, a poet, an artist, a calligrapher, a pharmacologist, a judge, a secretary to the emperor, an engineer, a yogi, a Confucian statesman and a confirmed winebibber of the Song Dynasty.
In 1037, Su Tungpo was born in Meishan, near Mount Emei in what is now Sichuan province. His courtesy name was Zizhan and his pseudonym was “Resident of Tungpo”. That’s why he is always referred to as Su Tungpo.
In Su’s childhood, he was educated by a Taoist priest at a local village school. And at the tender age of 19 (A.D. 1057), he passed the Chinese Civil Service Examinations at top, and attained the degree of jinshi, a prerequisite for a high government official.
After the recommendation from his patron Ouyang Xiu, one of the most famous politicians and scholars at that time, Su was appointed Fengshang assistant magistrate in 1061 and then started his tormented official career.
Before suffering his first political persecution, Su held a variety of government positions throughout China including, a secretary of History Department in 1064, a magistrate of Metropolis in 1071, the Mozhou magistrate in 1074, the Suzhou magistrate in 1077 and the Hangzhou magistrate in 1079.
Concerning the matter that the government monopoly imposed on the salt industry, Su was always opposed to a political faction headed by Wang Anshi, a great reformist and poet.
In 1080 the reformist faction came to power, and they claimed all Su’s critiques aiming at them were intended to be against the emperor.
As a result, Su was sent into banishment from 1080 to 1086. During this period of time, he began Buddhist meditation, and wrote a series of poems and prose which were filled with Buddhist monasteries.
In 1086, due to the ascension of a new government, Su and all other exiled officials were recalled to the capital.
Then he served as the Tengzhou magistrate in 1085, the Secretary to Emperor in 1086, the Hangzhou Commander in 1089 (where he constructed a pedestrian causeway: Sudi, now is a famous resort), the Yingchou magistrate and the Minister of civil service in 1091, the Minister of war in 1092 and the Minister of education in 1093.
During this time he acquired a reputation for being “the friend of people”.
However, in 1094 Su suffered the second banishment as the victim of a court intrigue to Huizhou and Hainan Island.
He passed away in 1101, a year after he returned to China.
References:
Lin Yutang(1947)The Gay Genius,The John Day Company: New York
Su Shi (2005) Wikipedia, [online]
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