Su Shi , courtesy name Zizhan (子瞻), art name Dongpo (東坡), was a Chinese poet, essayist, calligrapher, painter, scholar-official, literatus, artist, pharmacologist, and gastronome who lived during the Song dynasty. A major personality of the Song era, Su was an important figure in Song Dynasty politics, he had a lengthy career in bureaucracy, taking various provincial posts and briefly serving as a senior official at the imperial court. Despite his high hopes to serve the country, Su's political career was filled with frustrations due to his out-spoken criticism, and he often fell victim to political rivalries between the radical and the conservative forces. He endured a series of political exiles during which his creative career flourished.
