Portrait of Su Shi

Su Shi

Chinese writer and politician

Lived
1037–1101
Country
Northern Song dynasty

Updated September 2026

About Su Shi

Su Shi, courtesy name Zizhan (子瞻), art name Householder Dongpo (東坡居士), was a Chinese literatus, scholar-official, and artist of the Song dynasty. Born into a prominent literary family in Meizhou, he was the son of Su Xun and brother of Su Zhe. Despite ambitions for high office, he became a repeated target in factional struggles between reformers and conservatives at the court, and he spent much of his career in exile, periods during which his literary output flourished.

Biography from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Photo via Wikimedia Commons.

Sources: book lists and dates from Wikidata and Open Library, ratings from Open Library readers. Last updated September 2026.