Men know joy and sorrow, parting and reunion;/ The moon waxes and wanes./ Perfection was never easily come by./ Though miles and miles apart, could men but live forever/ Dreaming they shared this moonlight endlessly!

Over the past thousand years, how many have gazed at the moon, reciting Su Dongpo's familiar lines as they think of a certain someone?

Man of letters beyond compare

Su Shi, whose literary pseudonym was Dongpo, was born in 1036 and died in 1101. At the age of nine, he read the Biography of Fan Pang. Fan Pang, who lived during the late Han dynasty, was a fearless, willful, and righteous patriot who repeatedly offended the court with his harsh, truthful words. A measure of the respect others had for him can be seen in the behavior of the man sent to arrest him. Rather than carry out the mission and bring Fan in for execution, the officer decided to flee. Having finished reading Fan's story with his mother, Su Dongpo turned to her and asked if he could one day become another Fan Pang, illustrating his determined, chivalrous character even at such an early age.

At the age of 20, Su went to the capital, accompanied by his father and younger brother, to sit the imperial examinations. The renowned man of letters Ouyang Xiu was chief examiner. Astonished at the skill of Su's essay, he was inclined to rank Su's paper first, and award it the zhuangyuan. However, despite having read the essay over and over, Ouyang Xiu mistakenly believed the work was that of his student, Zeng Gong, and ranked it second to prevent any suspicion of favoritism. Remarking on the exam at a later date, Ouyang Xiu said, "Reading Su Shi's writing, I found myself breaking out in a sweat. What a joy! Naturally, I am prepared to give way and allow him to make his mark in the world."

Having made such a tremendous impression and received such fabulous praise, and given the particular emphasis placed on the official literary examinations by the Song dynasty, one would think that Su's career would have taken the elevator straight to the top. But Su was never one to mince words, and when he saw something that upset him he described it as "nauseating, like eating flies." Having read a poor essay, he commented that the work was "the product of a sophist who drank wine privately in the Eastern Capital (Kaifeng), who stuffed himself to death on miasma-tainted beef, and who had drunk himself to the gills." Politically, he was even more likely to sound off about injustice, frequently voicing dissenting opinions on the new administration of Wang Anshi. Subsequently dismissed by his former friend Zhang Chun, he was exiled twice, once at the age of 44 and again at 59, ultimately landing in Guangdong and later on Hainan Island.

Going through life with a smile

Despite the ups and downs of his official career, which included a near-fatal beating, exile, and poverty in harsh backwaters, Su Dongpo never failed to make his own merriment, accepting it all with a smile. Through thick and thin, his mischievous, cheerful personality could never be stained.

He could on the one hand liken the beauty of a peony to the rosy complexion of a young maiden, while on the other rub his belly and exclaim, "Out for a walk, carefree, I touch my tummy." Once, when he rode off to assume an official position in Fengxiang, his father and brother accompanied him on the start of his journey. When they turned back, Su saw the silk hat of his brother appearing and disappearing from view over the rolling terrain. Despite the sadness of parting, he nevertheless found humor in the situation, and wrote: "I went up the slope and turned back for a last look, and saw your black hat bobbing up and down beyond the ledge. I was sorry that you were so thinly clad in this weather, riding on a skinny horse in that declining moonlight." These words seem to encapsulate the constantly changing fortunes encountered in the career of an official.

Having been demoted to Huangzhou, without an official's salary, and with over a dozen family members in tow, Su had to be extremely frugal to survive. He hid his money within a scroll, allowing the withdrawal of just 150 wen each day. Afterwards, he would immediately stuff the scroll back into the ceiling. For expediency's sake, he also had a hollowed out section of bamboo, into which he placed his spare change for entertaining unexpected guests.

Even when he was sent to remote Hainan, Su remained cheerful, not finding himself any worse off for being banished to a frontier island. There, he happily ate 300 litchis each day, or passed idle hours at a three-way intersection counting the number of passers-by. At least he didn't have to worry about getting lost, for he and his family lived next to a cattle range, and whenever there was a question of which way to go, all he had to do was follow the "cow patties" home.

Toasting the moonlit river

Su Dongpo boisterously sang out, "The endless river eastward flows, with its roaring waves. Gone are the gallant heroes of bygone ages." The times may have changed, and the memory of great men and their deeds have been worn away by the years, but so what? Why not raise a glass and toast the moonlit river!

At the mention of Su Dongpo, people invariably smile knowingly, as if fondly remembering a friend. Lin Yutang entitled his biography of Su "The Gay Genius." Perhaps his hopelessly optimistic nature and humorous personality are what made him the one and only Su Dongpo.

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"The endless river eastward flows, with its roaring waves." Gone are gallant heroes of bygone ages, the likes of Su Dongpo. Pictured here is Su's Red Cliffs Dedication (courtesy of Yi Hsin Publishing Co., Ltd.)

"The endless river eastward flows, with its roaring waves." Gone are gallant heroes of bygone ages, the likes of Su Dongpo. Pictured here is Su's Red Cliffs Dedication （courtesy of Yi Hsin Publishing Co., Ltd.）