SOURCE: An Introduction to Su Tung-P'o: Selections from a Sung Dynasty Poet, translated by Burton Watson, Columbia University Press, 1965, pp. 3-16.

Watson is a scholar and translator of Chinese and Japanese literature whose numerous publications include Early Chinese Literature (1962) and Great Historical Figures of Japan (1978). Here, he presents an overview of Su 's life and works, touching on his style and the Buddhist and Taoist influences in his poetry.

Culturally, the Sung period was one of the great ages of Chinese history. The dynasty, which lasted from 960 to 1279, faced powerful enemies abroad: the Liao, a Khitan state in the northeast; a Tangut state called Hsi-hsia in the northwest; and later the Jurchen Tungus and Mongols. Militarily too weak to overpower these menacing neighbors, it was forced to buy peace with heavy tribute, at the same time maintaining costly border defenses in case of duplicity. Internally this hardbought peace...