In this 175th episode Laszlo gives the great Northern Song jack-of-all-literary-trades Su Dongpo the once over. This isn't meant to be a deep dive into the reasons for all his renown in literature, calligraphy and painting. Instead, this is just a "popular Chinese historical" overview of who he was and the times he lived in.  And for those who never heard of him, this is a good intro. In America we have Washington Irving, Mark Twain, Hemingway and so on. In China....Su Shi would be mentioned when rattling off their best of the best. He was definitely a major guy not only in the Song, but in the overall world of Chinese culture as well.  The list of terms from this episode is particularly long this time.  You can see them below in the approximate order of their mention.  If you're interested to check out some of his poetry, here's an amazon link to a book of his poems translated by Burton Watson: Selected Poems of Su T'ung-P'o   TERMS FROM THIS EPISODE  Ouyang Xiu 欧阳修 1007-1072 Northern Song statesman, historian, calligrapher, literatus extraordinaire Wang Xizhi   王羲之 Called arguably the greatest Chinese calligrapher Zhou   周 1046 BCE - 256 BCE Ancient dynasty of China Han   汉   206 BCE - 220 CE Ancient dynasty of China Jin   晋 265-420 Ancient dynasty of China Sui   隋 581-618 Ancient dynasty of China Tang 唐 618-907 Ancient dynasty of China Song   宋 960-1279 Ancient dynasty of China Kaifeng   开封 Capital of the Northern Song dynasty 960-1127 Northern Song 北宋 960-1127 Huizong   徽宗 The Northern Song emperor who "lost China" to the Jürchens Su Dongpo   苏东坡 1037 - 1101 Our subject in this episode Su Shi   苏轼 Su Dongpo's birth name Tang Song Ba Da Jia   唐宋八大家 "Eight Great Men of Letters of the Tang and Song Dynasty Han Yu   韩愈 768-824 - Tang essayist and poet. Major influence in development of Chinese literature Liu Zongyuan 柳宗元 773-819 Tang waster of prose and poetry Su Xun 苏洵 1009-1066 - Great man of letters and Father of Su Shi and Su Zhe Su Zhe 苏辙   1039-1112 - Brother of Su Shi, also a great man of letters Wang Anshi   王安石 1021-1086 - Song statesman and father of far reaching reforms. Also a great literary figure in his day. Zeng Gong   曾鞏 1019-1083 - Great prose master of the Song Hangzhou   杭州 Capital of Zhejiang and of dynasties past. Su Dongpo served there twice Zhejiang   浙江 Province in east China Meishan   眉山 City south of Chengdu, birthplace of the Three Su's, Su Xun, Su Dongpo and Su Zhe. Min River 岷江 Yangzi tributary river in Sichuan, famous for the Duijangyan irrigation system Leshan 乐山 City in Sichuan Ya'an   雅安 Great tea city near Chengdu in Sichuan Chengdu   成都 Ancient capital of Shu Kingdom, now capital of Sichuan jinshi   进士   The highest degree that allowed you to fill the top positions in government Wang Fu 王弗 1039-1065 - First wife of Su Dongpo Henan  河南 Province in north China where it all began doucha   斗茶 "Tea Battles" that were popular during the Song Wang Runzhi   王闰之 1048-1093 2nd wife of Su Dongpo Su Di   苏堤 the Su Causeway across West Lake in Hangzhou Xin Fa   新法 The New Policies championed by the Shenzong Emperor and Wang Anshi Shenzong    神宗 1048-1085 - Northern Song Emperor and Wang Anshi supporter Sima Guang   司马光 1019-1086 Conservative Song scholar and official, writer of the Zizhi Tongijan Luoyang   洛阳 City in Henan and former ancient capital of past dynasties. Cheng Yi 程颐  One of the pride of Luoyang, Chinese philosopher Zizhi Tongjian, the "Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance" A monumental historical work covering Chinese history from 403 BCE to 959 CE Wutai Poem Incident 乌台诗案 In 1079, a poem by Su Shi got him in trouble and exiled fron the capital. Huangzhou 黄州 Former name of Huanggang, now a district of that city Hubei   湖北 Central province in China, capital is at Wuhan Huanggang   黄冈 City just east of Wuhan in Hubei Province Dongpo 东坡 Eastern slope Dongpo Jushi 东坡居士 Dongpo, the retired scholar or Buddhist. Chibi Fu   赤壁赋 Ode to Red Cliffs, famous poem by Su Shi Hou Chibi Fu   后赤壁赋   The