Su Dongpo: The Life and Times: Part Two

Su Dongpo: The Life and Times: Part Two

PART TWO:

FATHER AND SONS

In 1059 all three Sus and the two wives returned to the capital. They traveled by the Changjiang (Yangzi River) 700 miles, including the 220 miles through the rapids of the Three Gorges, and then overland for another 400 miles. They began in October, and arrived the next February (1060). Traveling by water they had composed a hundred poems, published under the title The Southern Voyage.

Shortly after their arrival they bought a house and garden. The property was about half an acre. The brothers passed yet another two exams, one for ministry posts in the capital, and the other for the “frank criticism of the administration”. Su Dongpo received the highest grade. He also submitted 25 historical essays. The father was appointed to a position as an examiner of scripts in the department of archives. The three were now known as famous literary intellectuals.

GODS, DEVILS AND MEN

Su Dongpo, like all young men, had to start his career at the bureaucratic bottom, so in late 1061 he was appointed counselor of justice, to the office of assistant magistrate in Fengxiang. His brother obtained the same office in Shangzhou. Appointments usually lasted for three years. The emperor did not want his civil servants to have the opportunity to establish power centers outside of the capital, and therefore outside his control. Every magistrate had an assistant assigned in order to regulate, and to act as part of a checks and balance. The Su brothers often exchanged poems with one another, most often echoing and reflecting the other’s previous poems.

In Fengxiang, Su Dongpo built a little house and garden with a pond and pavilion. For the first time he was on his own with his wife and baby. Being away from his friends and brother, Su began to wonder if the life of an official was not so wonderful after all.  His official duties were so light, he often traveled to the mountains in the east and south, and sometimes as far away as the Zhongnan mountains.  Chen Cao, the son of the chief magistrate became Su’s friend for life, especially during the years of exile after his release from jail. In the autumn of 1063 he wrote to his brother: “…Everyday I carry on the daily duties, without asking what they are for. Before a scholar obtains an office, he worries about obtaining it, and if after obtaining it he worries about losing it, what is to be the end of such a life?”

Around this time the emperor passed away. In December 1064 Su was relieved of his post. He and his family returned to the capital in January 1065. Usually at the end of the three years of service, the official and his records were to be reviewed before being reassigned. The new emperor, Yingzong, wanted him as an imperial secretary, but at the suggestion of his premier Han Chi, he was instead given a post in the department of history.

In May 1065 his wife died at the age of twenty-six. His son was only 6 years old.  His father died the next year in April 1066. Both Su brothers were obliged to resign their positions to enter the period of mourning. He and his brother took both coffins one thousand miles by land, and then up the Changjiang to be buried near their hometown of Meishan. They arrived in April of the following year, 1067. The 27 months of mourning ended in July of 1068. Su Dongpo had a Buddhist temple erected to honor his father, and then he remarried. The bride was his wife’s first cousin, Junchi. She was twenty years old and Su was 32. She was his choice this time.

The Su brothers returned to the capital with their families in December 1068. Neither one of them were ever to return to their hometown again.

EXPERIMENT IN STATE CAPITALISM

They arrived in the capital in 1069, the second year of emperor Shenzong. The emperor was Yingzong’s son, and came to power at the age of 20. It was at this time Wang Anshi rose to power, first as a chief magistrate, then vice-premier as the Sus arrived in the capital. From this time on, China was plunged into a wave after wave of social experiments and political storms which terminated only with the end of the Northern Song dynasty.

Wang Anshi had gained the total confidence of the young emperor. For the next two years all of the old high level ministers and officials left the capital and were replaced by Wang. Next came the radical reforms of Wang Anshi. His main concern was to enrich the national treasury, that is to increase the government’s revenue. To this end he planned to redirect the wealth of the country by channeling and changing the efforts and activities of the merchants and landlords into state owned enterprises. One of the reforms had the peasants instead of borrowing money from the landlords, they were given the opportunity, and eventually the mandate, to borrow money directly from the government. Throughout all of China, loans were to made at planting, and then repaid at harvest time with twenty to thirty percent interest. The reforms lasted for about eight years. Su Dongpo wrote about the governmental monopoly in the sale and distribution of salt in some of his poems, which had disastrous results. A draft tax was started, whereby a man’s obligation to serve in the military could be substituted with a payment to the government. By 1072 the government had to begin a network of governmental spies, and take total control of the press and distribution of information to the people. By 1075 Wang Anshi had published the reinterpretation of Confucius, and his philosophies were to be used in governmental policy making. Soon the country’s jails were full, and wives and children were sold in order to repay the government farm loans. Many lost their land and farms as lawsuits filled the crowded courts.

Peasants either had floods and drought with famine, or good crop yields that had to be turned over to the government for taxes.

The insanity of the reforms were finally revealed to the emperor, and halted after some pictures submitted by a curious and obscure palace gatekeeper was found. This official, Cheng Xia, had drawn pictures of the poor farmers as refugees, half clothed and starving, traveling on a highway carrying bricks and firewood to sell in order to pay their taxes.

Su Dongpo was in the opposition party against Wang Anshi, along with all of the officials during the previous reign. The political warfare lasted throughout Su’s life, until his death in 1101. Wang only had the young emperor and a few petty officials on his side.

THE TWO BROTHERS

Su Dongpo left the capital with his family in July 1071 to take a post in Hangzhou. For the next 8 or 9 years he served here as well as in Mizhou, near modern day Qingdao, and the city of Suzhou. This was a period of great poetic activity for him. On his way he visited his brother who was working in Chenzhou. By this time his brother had three sons and seven daughters, while Su Dongpo had a 12 year old son and a new baby.

Ziyou knew well that Su Dongpo’s greatest weakness was his mouth and pen, and the criticisms that flowed from them: ”I know that I am always careless of my speech. When I feel something is wrong, it is like finding a fly in my food, and I just have to spit it out.”

In Hangzhou, Su Dongpo was happy and very popular with the people. He was inspired by the physical beauty of the place. He was assigned as the assistant magistrate. When he went back 18 years later it was as governor of the province (modern day Zhejiang). He arrived in November after spending time with his brother, and together they spent two weeks with Ouyang Xiu. A good summary of his existence as an official is best described in the poem “Middle of Xining”.  Su spent a lot of time on the lake and in the surrounding mountains. He became a great friend of the temple monks. At this time he began the serious study of Buddhism while in Huangzhou after he was 40 years old.

In the life and times of Su Dongpo, mixing with courtesans and sing-song girls, at wine dinners and official functions was a part of an official’s life. They were entertainers who poured the wine, played musical instruments, and sang songs for the guests. This was a tradition going back to the 7th century BC. At these parties, ninety percent of the time Su had to write poems at the request of both the guests and entertainers. Out of this institution and tradition came the poetic form called the “ci”. These are poems written to well established melodies. Words were written to fill in the melodies. Su was a master, and it became to poetic form of choice during the Song dynasty. There is no record or evidence of Su becoming romantically involved with any of the courtesans.

POETRY OF PROTEST

At this time the most common structure of his poems consisted in setting up the context and mood using natural and simple vocabulary. Then quite often Su would insert an allusion or two recalling ancient history and famous people of the past. Finally, as a conclusion, some epiphany and/or statement of philosophy was made.

He knew that his poems traveled quickly to the capital and would be scrutinized by his enemies, but he didn’t care. His political satire and social commentaries written casually and almost matter-of-factly.  See the poem, “Zhejiang Field Worker”.  There was no preaching of rebellion, no overt criticism, but the mosquito bites stung over and over.

Su’s term of office in Hangzhou expired in Sept 1074. He was then assigned somewhat close to his brother as chief magistrate in Mizhou, near Qingdao. He served here for two years, and was then appointed chief magistrate in Suzhou from April 1077 to March 1079.

Mizhou a very poor district, growing mostly hemp, dates and mulberries. By this time official salaries had been cut. With Wang Anshi out of office, the new income tax and the draft exemption tax was beyond the people’s ability to pay. At this sad time, Su reached his period of artistic maturity. Anger was replaced by peace and resignation. He acquired more and more admiration for Tao Yuanming, and the union with Nature.  Many of his best poems are written to and for his brother. (See the poem “Song Remnants”).

THE YELLOW TOWER

Su Dongpo now entered a new period of his life, the period of the Yellow Tower. Su became more of an activist, public servant, and used his improving administrative talents.

At the end of 1076 he was recalled from Mizhou, and appointed as chief magistrate of Suzhou. In August of 1077 large floods invaded the city. He supervised the strengthening of the outer wall, which included a wall 9,840 feet long, 10 feet high by 20 feet wide. He had a hundred foot tower constructed on one of the earthen dams and called it the Yellow Tower. This then became the name for a collection of poems written during this time, much like the Chaojan Terrace was the collection written during his Mizhou time. The tower completed on the ninth of September, 1078.

ARREST AND TRIAL

In March 1079 he was transferred to Huzhou in the lake district of Jiangsu as chief magistrate. In his letter of thanks he wrote to the emperor: “ Your Majesty knows that I am stupid and behind the time, unable to keep up with the young upstarts; seeing that in my middle age I am not likely to cause trouble…“ But his enemies surrounding the emperor interpreted these lines negatively. To them, the young upstarts were unqualified and inexperienced, and the younger officials surrounding the emperor were the troublemakers. Impeachment charges were filed, and Su was brought to the capital for trial. The manner and procedure of the official messenger and soldiers were very high-handed and out of the norm. Some stories circulated that he was considering suicide along the way. Meanwhile his family and friends were busy destroying his correspondence and many of his manuscripts. When the family was on the way to the capital all of their luggage was searched for poems, letters and other documents.

He was formally arrested on July 28, 1079, and was thrown into the imperial prison on August 18. It was a long trial that lasted six to seven weeks. His eldest son was responsible to send food to his father, and there was a secret agreement to send vegetables and meat, but if there was any bad news, fish would be sent. For a few days the son had to be away, and his replacement, not knowing of the agreement, sent one meal of fish to Su. He wrote two farewell poems to his brother knowing also that the emperor would read them as well. These letters greatly moved the emperor and resulted in a lighter sentence for him. All of the documents and records of the trial have survived. His judgment rested solely on how the prosecution read and interpreted his poems and letters.

There were also 39 people who as friends of Su Dongpo  were also implicated in the case, and over 100 of his poems were given as evidence. He had to explain each one. After ten days into the trial he admitted his guilt. He admitted giving the criticisms in the poems. He had compared those in power to croaking frogs, chirping cicadas, owls, and black crows feeding on mice. The trial ended in the beginning of October. Meanwhile the emperor’s grandmother made a dying wish that Su receive no harsh punishment. Her funeral held up the verdict.

The emperor secretly sent a spy into Su’s prison cell. Mistaking him for another prisoner, Su just rolled over and went to sleep. This proved to the emperor that Su’s conscience was clear, and therefore some forgiveness was accorded.

On December 29 orders came sending Su to Huangzhou. He was given a position of low rank. Guilt through association gave his brother a degraded rank also, and he was sent to Kao-an to sell wine at a government bureau. Su Dongpo was let out of prison on New Year’s Eve.

Notes:

Changjiang: Also known as the Yangzi River.

Fengxiang: Located in western Shaanxi Province

Zhongnan mountains: In Shaanxi Province, south of Xi’an.

Emperor Yingzong: Reign of 1063-1067

Wang Anshi:(1021-1086): Statesmen and proponent of the radical and harmful New Policies.  Su Dongpo’s political opponent, yet they later became friends.

Commentary:

Author Lin Yutang used the words “state capitalism” to describe the economic and governmental policies of Wang Anshi and his emperor.  But by more modern standards it appears to me to be socialism.  Much like current China, there were many state owned enterprises (SOEs).  However one calls it, the effects and results were, and are pretty much the same.