MUZIChinese Matrix
Writers › Writer / Poet
Northern Song poet and prose writer, paired with Mei Yaochen as 'Su-Mei', who built the Canglang Pavilion in Suzhou after his dismissal.
In a study at night, a desk holds a brush pot, a porcelain vase with a plum branch, a lit red lantern, a folded fan and an unrolled blank scroll, with no one seated there, while through a round window the moon rises over a lake with a sailboat.
Also known as Zi Zimei · Canglang Weng
Su Shunqin, courtesy name Zimei, was a native of Kaifeng who passed the jinshi examination in the Jingyou era. Recommended by Fan Zhongyan, he served as a collator in the Academy of Worthies and supervisor of the Memorial Office, but in 1044 he was struck from the rolls for using the proceeds of sold waste paper to host a banquet, a blow to the Qingli reformers. Retiring to Suzhou, he built the Canglang Pavilion and wrote its famous record. His vigorous verse, paired with Mei Yaochen's, helped set the course of Song poetry; Ouyang Xiu's poem 'Canglang Pavilion' answers him.
SongIn the Tiansheng years, when most scholars wrote in a heavily paired style, only Su Shunqin and Mu Xiu of Henan favoured ancient-style prose and verse, and many gifted men followed them. At Suzhou he bought stones and water to make the Canglang Pavilion and often poured his resentment into verse that was bold and often startling.
Su Shunqin first entered office through his father's rank as an attendant at the Grand Temple, was posted as district defender of Xingyang, and later served as collator at the Academy of Worthies and supervisor of the Memorial Reception Office. He was struck off the rolls together with another man on a charge of 'self-theft', and died holding the post of aide to the prefect of Huzhou.