Su Shi Collection (Volume 1 and 2) -- Classics Series of the Collection Department

Author: Su Shi (Song Dynasty), edited by Gu Zhichuan
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2000-08-01
Features: Su Shi (1037-1101), styled Zizhan, also known as Hezhong, styled Dongpo Jushi, was a native of Meishan, Meizhou (now part of Sichuan Province). He came from a wealthy landlord family with a strong literary atmosphere. In the second year of the Jiayou era (1057), he passed the imperial examination together with his younger brother Su Zhe. He was highly appreciated by the chief examiner Ouyang Xiu. In the sixth year of the Jiayou era (1061), he was appointed as the Secretary of the Fengxiang Prefecture. During the Xining period of Emperor Shenzong of Song (1068-1077), he was sent to various local posts in Hangzhou, Mizhou, Xuzhou, and Huzhou due to disagreements with Wang Anshi's reforms. While serving in these positions, he was accused by officials like He Zhengchen, Shu Dan, and Li Ding of composing poems that criticized the flaws in the new policies. In the second year of the Yuanfeng era (1079), he was arrested and imprisoned for allegedly slandering the court. This incident became known as the "Wutai Poetry Case," a famous literary persecution in the Northern Song Dynasty. After several months, he was fortunate to be released and exiled to Huangzhou. In the first year of the Yuanyou era (1085), when the old faction came to power under Sima Guang, Su Shi returned to the capital and held positions such as Secretary of the Chancellery, Academician of the Hanlin Academy, and Chief Draftsman of Imperial Edicts. However, he was suspected by the old faction for disagreeing with Sima Guang's complete abolition of the new policies. He was successively appointed as the governor of Hangzhou, Yingzhou, and Yangzhou. Upon his recall to the capital, he was appointed as the Academician of the Daming Hall and later rose to the position of Minister of Rites. In the ninth month of the eighth year of the Yuanyou era (1093), he was appointed as the governor of Dingzhou. In the first year of the Shaosheng era (1094), Emperor Huizong ascended to the throne, and the new faction came to power. Su Shi was exiled to Yingzhou, Huizhou, and finally to Dandong (now Dan County, Hainan Island). In the first year of the Jianzhong and Jingguo era (1101), Emperor Huizong ascended to the throne, and Su Shi was pardoned and returned north. He died in Changzhou in July and was posthumously honored as Wenzhong. He authored works such as Dongpo Seven Collections, the Su Family Commentary on the I Ching, the Shu Commentary on the Confucian Classics, the Commentary on the Analects, and Dongpo Notes. His life and works were recorded in numerous historical texts, including the Songshu, the New Songshu, the Dongdu Shilu, the Collection of Inscriptions of Renowned Officials, the Records of the Conduct of Renowned Officials of the Three Dynasties, the Biography of the Yuanyou Faction, the Lin'an Gazetteer of the Qiandao Era, the Jiating Gazetteer of Wuxing, and the Xianchun Gazetteer of Piling. His younger brother Su Zhe wrote the Epitaph for Dongpo Jushi, while Wang Zongji of the Song Dynasty compiled the Chronological Biography of Dongpo Jushi, both included in the Collection of Su Dongpo. Zheng Xiang of the Ming Dynasty wrote the Verified Chronological Biography of Su Wenzhong, while Feng Yingliu of the Qing Dynasty compiled the Combined Annotations of the Chronological Biography of Su Wenzhong. The Dongpo Poetry Notes originally had two volumes, but the current edition has only one volume with thirty-two chapters. It was traditionally attributed to Su Shi, but according to the Shanzhai Reading Records, the Novel Category states, "Su Shi's miscellaneous writings include poems, and enthusiasts compiled them into two volumes." It is thus not actually written by Su Shi but was compiled as early as the Southern Song Dynasty. As it was not written by Su Shi, it was not included in his complete works. Besides the Shanzhai Reading Records, it is also listed in the Art Literature Outline of the Tongzhi. The Poetic Notes General and the Collection of Poems and Notes from Xiaoxi Fishing have quoted from it. The only surviving edition is the one from the Shuofo Collection. The Japanese near included it in the Collection of. Chen Xiuming of the Yuan Dynasty wrote the Dongpo Poetry Notes Record, which was later compiled into the Collection of Learning at Sea by the Qing Dynasty, forming a separate edition. Collections of Su Shi's works have been compiled differently throughout history. Broadly speaking, there are mainly three types: poetry collections, prose collections, and combined collections of poetry and prose. Su Shi's poetry was compiled by Wang Shipeng in the twenty-five-volume "Collected Annotations and Classification of Dongpo Poetry," with editions by Huang Shanfu and the Yuan-collated edition of the Four Treasuries Collection. The chronological annotated edition is the "Annotations on Dongpo Jushi's Poetry" by Shi Yuanzhi and Gu Xi, in forty-two volumes, with editions from the Jiating era and the Jingding era, both now fragmented. In the Qing Dynasty, there were Qian Shangxing's "Supplementary Annotations to the Chronological Dongpo Poetry" in fifty volumes and Feng Yingliu's "Combined Annotations of Su Wenzhong's Poetry" in fifty volumes, as well as Wang Wengao's "Collected Annotations and Integrated Edition of Su Wenzhong's Poetry." The Zhonghua Book Company's "Collection of Su Shi's Poetry" has fifty volumes, with the fourth to the forty-sixth volumes using Wang Wengao's edition and the forty-seventh to the fiftieth volumes using Feng Yingliu's edition. Su Shi's ci (a type of classical Chinese poetry) is commonly found in the three-volume chronological edition "Dongpo Yuefu" compiled by Zhu Zumu, with annotations by Long Baisheng in the "Annotations on Dongpo Yuefu." Su Shi's prose was published in various editions during the Song Dynasty. The earliest selected edition is the "Collected Dongpo Literary Works and Notes" by Qiu Ye of the Southern Song Dynasty, with a Song-collated edition of the Four Treasuries Collection. In the late Ming Dynasty, Mao Wei's "Complete Works of Su Wenzhong" in seventy-five volumes included only prose and poetry, which was later adopted by the Zhonghua Book Company's "Collection of Su Shi's Works" in seventy-three volumes (with an appendix of Qian Shangxing's "Compendium of Lost Works of Su Shi"). His complete works of poetry and prose were published in the Song Dynasty as "Dongpo Collection" and "Post-Dongpo Collection." In the fourth year of the Chenghua era (1468), Cheng Zong published the "Complete Works of Su Wenzhong" (including the forty-volume "Dongpo Collection," the twenty-volume "Post-Dongpo Collection," the fifteen-volume "Collected Memorials," the ten-volume "Collected Imperial Edicts," with an additional one-volume "Le Yu," the three-volume "Collected External Imperial Edicts," the ten-volume "Collected Imperial Rescripts," the twelve-volume "Post-Dongpo Collection," and the one-volume "Chronological Biography"), comprising one hundred and twelve volumes. It was later collated and printed by Du Fang in the late Qing Dynasty and included in the "Complete Collection of the Four Treasuries."