Overview by Su Shi: A detail of
The Cold Food Observance () Approximately 2,700 poems and 800 letters penned by Su Shi have been preserved to date. Su wrote multiple poems at
Huangzhou amid political banishment; in fact, the Huangzhou exile was a most prolific period for the poet. One of the examples is a playful and biting poem on the first bath of his new-born son by his third wife Zhaoyun.
On the Birth of a Son .
"Immortal by the River" Returning at Night to Linggao" () (written in 1082 CE): Composed in 1082 CE, this song reflects the period when Su Shi faced demotion and relocation, now known as the Huangzhou district in Hubei Province. Despite enduring political adversity, Su Shi maintained an appreciation for the natural world. The lyrics convey his aspiration to abandon the chase for status, fame, and wealth, and instead embrace a life of seclusion. '
Settling Wind Waves (Ding feng-bo) ()': His popular politically charged poetry was often the reason for the wrath of
Wang Anshi's supporters towards him, culminating with the
Crow Terrace Poetry Trial of 1079. He also wrote poems on Buddhist topics, including a poem later extensively commented on by
Eihei Dōgen, founder of the Japanese
Sōtō school of
Zen, in a chapter of his work
Shōbōgenzō entitled
The Sounds of Valley Streams, the Forms of Mountains.
Travel record literature . Su Shi also wrote of his travel experiences in 'daytrip
essays', which belonged in part to the popular Song era literary category of 'travel record literature' (youji wenxue) that employed the use of
narrative,
diary, and
prose styles of writing. Although other works in Chinese
travel literature contained a wealth of
cultural,
geographical,
topographical, and technical information, the central purpose of the daytrip essay was to use a setting and event in order to convey a
philosophical or
moral argument, which often employed
persuasive writing.
A memorial on the Chinese iron industry smelting
cast iron, with
bellows operated by a
waterwheel and mechanical device, from the
Nong Shu, by
Wang Zhen, 1313 While acting as Governor of
Xuzhou in 1078, Su wrote a
memorial to the imperial court about issues faced in the Liguo Industrial Prefecture was under his administration. In an interesting and revealing passage about the Chinese
iron industry during the latter half of the 11th century, Su Shi wrote about the enormous size of the workforce employed in the iron industry, competing provinces that had rival iron manufacturers seeking favor from the central government, as well as the danger of rising local strongmen who had the capability of raiding the industry and threatening the government with effectively armed rebellion. It also becomes clear in reading the text that prefectural government officials in Su's time often had to negotiate with the central government in order to meet the demands of local conditions.
Technical issues of hydraulic engineering During the ancient
Han dynasty (202 BCE220 CE) of China, the
sluice gate and
canal lock of the
flash lock had been known. By the 10th century the latter design was improved upon in China with the invention of the
canal pound lock, allowing different adjusted levels of water along separated and gated segments of a canal. This innovation allowed for larger transport
barges to pass safely without danger of wrecking upon the embankments, and was an innovation praised by those such as
Shen Kuo (1031–1095). Shen also wrote in his
Dream Pool Essays of the year 1088 that, if properly used, sluice gates positioned along
irrigation canals were most effective in depositing
silt for
fertilization. Writing earlier in his
Dongpo Zhilin of 1060, Su Shi came to a different conclusion, writing that the Chinese of a few centuries past had perfected this method and noted that it was ineffective in use by his own time. Although Su Shi made no note of it in his writing, the root of this problem was merely the needs of agriculture and transportation conflicting with one another. There is a legend, for which there is no evidence, that by accident he invented
Dongpo pork, a famous dish in later centuries. Lin Hsiang Ju and Lin Tsuifeng in their scholarly
Chinese Gastronomy give a recipe, "The Fragrance of Pork: Tungpo Pork", and remark that the "square of fat is named after Su Dongpo, the poet, for unknown reasons. Perhaps it is just because he would have liked it." A story runs that once Su Shi had decided to make stewed pork. Then an old friend visited him in the middle of the cooking and challenged him to a game of
Chinese chess. Su Shi had totally forgotten the stew, which in the meantime had now become extremely thick-cooked, until its very fragrant smell reminded him of it. Some legends point to the contrary, however, where other villagers simply named the pork dish after him to honour his death, although no concrete evidence points to any conclusion. Su, to explain his vegetarian inclinations, said that he never had been comfortable with killing animals for his dinner table, but had a craving for certain foods, such as clams, so he could not desist. When he was imprisoned his views changed: "Since my imprisonment I have not killed a single thing... having experienced such worry and danger myself, when I felt just like a fowl waiting in the kitchen, I can no longer bear to cause any living creature to suffer immeasurable fright and pain simply to please my palate." ==See also==