Su Shi (Tze-Chan; Tong-Po), A.D. 1036-1101, was a native of Mei-shan in
Szechwan. He won the highest literary degrees, and was advanced from one
official office to another until he became a Minister of State; but,
owing to political feuds and intrigues, he was degraded from his high
office in the capital and sent to fill inferior posts in distant parts
of the Empire, where he wrote poetry and diffused a love of literature
among the people he ruled.