Preface
In Chinese history, there is a group of people who are different, and they are called "degraded people". For various reasons, political struggles, personality traits, or bad luck, they were eventually degraded and exiled and fell into a low point in life.
Although the stories of these degraded people are not as good as those legends of the kings and heroes, in them, we see the interweaving of power and unspoken rules, the sinister and unfair officialdom of ancient China, and the fragility and tenacity of human nature.
Today, we will tell the story of such a character - Su Shi, a writer of the Northern Song Dynasty who was demoted for 33 years.
Su Shi, who was born in a scholarly family
Su Shi was born in a scholarly family, and his ancestors had a great talent in literature and history. In Su Shi's generation, it was the peak of the Su family in the literary world. Su Shi, his father Su Xun, and his younger brother Su Zhe were known as the "Three Sus", and their literary brilliance and talent were well-known at that time.
When he was young, Su Shi showed extraordinary literary talent. When he and his younger brother entered Beijing for the first time to participate in the imperial examination, they impressed the chief examiner Ouyang Xiu. Ouyang Xiu praised Su Shi's future articles as "unique in the world" and become a leader of a generation of literary circles.
With Ouyang Xiu's attention, Su Shi could have shown his strength and talent in the capital, and he might have become a generation of cultural idols in the future. The impermanence of fate has made Su Shi's life trajectory take a huge turn.
Leaving Beijing and keeping filial piety missed a good opportunity
Not long after Su Shi entered Beijing, his mother died of illness. According to ancient etiquette, Su Shi's father and son had to leave the capital, return to their hometown to mourn and keep filial piety for three years. When they returned to the capital after the expiration of the filial piety period, they found that the place had changed and the old appearance was completely changed.
It turned out that during Su Shi's departure from Beijing, an unprecedented change took place in the Northern Song Dynasty - Wang Anshi's reform. This change not only changed the government and government, but also completely changed the pattern of the government and the opposition. Many of Su Shi's friends in the court and the opposition, as well as his mentor Ouyang Xiu, left the capital due to disagreements with Wang Anshi. Relatives and friends are separated, so the old ones are separated, and there are no relatives.
Su Shi has become a loner in the capital, and his future career has become confusing. Two years later, Su Shi finally couldn't help but criticize the new party's concept of changing the law in his book. Such an approach naturally aroused the dissatisfaction of Wang Anshi and others. Su Shi was soon relegated to a post in other places and left the capital. Since then, Su Shi has started a long career in exile.
The literary prison triggered by the "Wutai Poetry Case".
When Su Shi was 42 years old, he had just been transferred to Huzhou Zhizhou. In order to express his gratitude, he wrote a letter of "Huzhou Xie Shang" and handed it to Song Shenzong. However, although Su Shi has been an official for many years, he has always been unaccustomed to the flattering style of officialdom. In this table, he poured out his rough life and dissatisfaction with current politics.
For this reason, Su Shi angered the magnates of the dynasty. These people used Su Shi's previous poems and the above table this time to impeach Su Shi out of context, which can be called the largest "literary prison" in the Northern Song Dynasty.
Su Shi, who had become the target of public criticism, could not escape death, thanks to the appreciation of Su Shi by Wang Anshi, the leader of the New Party, and the national policy of Zhao Kuangyin, Taizu of the Song Dynasty, not to kill the scholars, so that he was saved from death. But capital crimes can be avoided, but living crimes cannot be escaped.
Su Shi, who had just arrived for a few months, was imprisoned for 100 and 3 days because of the "Wutai Poetry Case", and then he was demoted to the deputy envoy of the Huangzhou Youth League. This position is very low, and it is basically equivalent to an empty position. But Su Shi was very open-minded, and he also wrote the famous "Red Cliff Fu" in Huangzhou.
For Su Shi, a person who did not occupy a side in the old and new party struggles in the Northern Song Dynasty, it was not the first time that he was demoted, and it would not be the last. From then on, Su Shi began a long career in exile, and on this road, he traveled almost the entire territory of the Northern Song Dynasty.
Brief reuse after being demoted to Hangzhou
With the death of Song Shenzong, Empress Dowager Gao took power for the young Song Zhezong, and the new party in the reform was suppressed. Some officials who had been belittled by the New Party in the past were reappointed, including Su Shi. This time, Su Shi returned to the dynasty to be an official, and the highest has been achieved as a bachelor of Hanlin. In ancient times on the mainland, this was an official position that could often be promoted to the prime minister. It can be seen that Su Shi has no problem in terms of political ability.
If Su Shi can learn the "lessons" of the previous two times this time and say more good and obedient things to the old party in power in the court, then with his ability, the future prime minister may really fall on his head. But even if our "Dongpo laymen" have been suppressed many times in the officialdom because of their outspokenness, they are still upright.
In his view, the so-called new party and the old party are all the same. The old party was no better off with the corruption problems that the new party had before. So Su Shi admonished again, pointing out the shortcomings of the old party's governance. Such a move made the old party members try their best to squeeze out Su Shi, and demoted him to Hangzhou as an official.
The new party is in power and scolds the new party, and the old party is in power and scolds the old party, and Su Shi at this time is completely intolerable to the two parties. But in fact, this is just the true character of a scholar that ancient scholars in the mainland should have. Su Shi himself actually supports the change, but he opposes partial generalizations and is in a hurry. I can't get used to seeing these powerful ministers forming gangs and using power for personal gain. That's why I have repeatedly written and admonished directly.
He was exiled to Danzhou, a hell on earth
After that, Su Shi was once again belittled. This time, he even fell to Danzhou, Hainan. In ancient times, if a person was exiled to that place, it was actually better than beheading all the houses. To put it bluntly, it means not to kill you, but to let you live and suffer.
However, even in this place, which is known as "hell on earth", Su Shi still maintains an optimistic and open-minded attitude towards life. He regarded this place as his second hometown, and also said, "I am a Dan Er clan, parasitic in Xishu Prefecture."
During his stay in Danzhou, Su Shi not only wrote many well-known poems, but also created a delicacy that we are still well-known today - Dongpo meat. It is this indomitable spirit that allows Su Shi to maintain the brilliance of humanity in the face of adversity. He used his life to explain what is a real reading festival.
Later, Song Huizong ascended the throne and granted amnesty to the world, and Su Shi could finally return from the north and south of Hainan. At this time, he has been an official for 39 years, and he has been demoted from Beijing for 33 years. Perhaps because he felt that his time was running out, Su Shi did not return to Beijing, but chose to stay in his favorite Changzhou. The following year, Su Shi died in Changzhou, ending his 40-year career as an official.
epilogue
Looking back on Su Shi's life, from the time he met Ouyang Xiu in the imperial examination in Beijing, to the later Song Zhezong ascended the throne and reappointed officials. It can be seen that he has actually had many opportunities in his life, and his ability is not bad.
The reason why he was degraded all his life is because he doesn't like flattery, is upright, and is straightforward to everyone. But it is precisely because of this that we can have the great writer Su Dongpo who we are familiar with today as "a cloud of smoke and rain in his life".
His story reminds us of the importance of maintaining an independent personality and standing firm in ideals and beliefs in any era. Only in this way can we truly live our lives.