Su Shi was a writer, poet, artist of the Song Dynasty, and one of the major poets of the Song era. His courtesy name was Zizhan and his pseudonym was Dongpo Jushi, and he is often referred to as Su Dongpo. Both his renowned poetry and his existent writings are of great value in the understanding of 11th century Chinese travel literature.

Su Shi was born in Meishan, near Mount Emei in what is now Sichuan province. His brother Su Zhe and his father Su Xun were both famous literati. Su's early education was conducted under a Taoist priest at a local village school. Later in his childhood, he studied under his mother, herself a highly educated woman. Su married at age 17. In 1057, when Su was 19, he and his brother passed the civil service examinations to attain the degree of jinshi, gaining an opportunity to enter into high government offices. His accomplishments at such a young age attracted the attention of Ouyang Xiu, who became Su's patron thereafter.

Beginning in 1060 and throughout the following twenty years, Su held a variety of government positions throughout China. In 1078, when he was governor of Xuzhou, he once wrote a memorial to the throne complaining about the troubling economic conditions and potential for armed rebellion in Liguo Industrial Prefecture, where a large part of the Chinese iron industry was located.

Su Shi's first remote trip of exile (1080–1086) was to Huangzhou (now in Zhejiang province). This post carried a nominal title, but no stipend, leaving Su in poverty. With help from a friend, Su built a small residence on a parcel of land in 1081. While banished to Hubei province, he grew fond of the area he lived in, and many of his best poems were written in this period. In 1086, Su and all other banished statesmen were recalled to the capital due to the ascension of a new government.

However, Su was banished a second time (1094–1100) to Huizhou (now in Guangdong province) and Hainan island. In 1098 the Dongpo Academy in Hainan was built on the site of his residence that was established while in exile.After a long period of political exile, Su received a pardon in 1100 and was posted to Chengdu. However, he died in Changzhou, Jiangsu province after his period of exile and while he was en route to his new assignment in the year 1101.

Su Shi? had a very tough relationship with a political faction headed by Wang Anshi. Su Shi once wrote a poem criticizing Wang Anshi's reforms, especially the government monopoly imposed on the salt industry. The dominance of the reformist faction at court made it possible for the New Policy Group to have Su Shi exiled for political crimes. The claim was that Su was criticizing the emperor, when in fact Su Shi's poetry was aimed at criticizing Wang's reforms. It should be said that Wang Anshi played no part in this actions against Su, for he had retired from public life in 1076 and established a cordial relationship with Su Shi.

Around 2,700 of Su Song's poems have survived, along with 800 written letters. Su Dongpo excelled in the shi, ci and fu forms of poetry, as well as prose, calligraphy and painting. Some of his notable poems include the First and Second Chibifu (The Red Cliffs, written during his first exile), Nian Nu Jiao: Chibi Huai Gu (Remembering Chibi, to the tune of Nian Nu Jiao) and Shui diao ge tou (Remembering Su Che on the Mid-Autumn Festival). The two former poems were inspired by the 3rd century naval battle of the Three Kingdoms era, the Battle of Chibi in the year 208. The bulk of his poems are in the shi style, but his poetic fame rests largely on his 350 ci style poems. Su Shi also founded the Haofang School, which cultivated an attitude of heroic abandon.

In both his written works and his visual art, he combined spontaneity, objectivity and vivid descriptions of natural phenomena. Su Shi wrote essays as well, many of which are on politics and governance, including his Liuhoulun.

Su Shi also wrote of his travel experiences in 'daytrip essays', which belonged in part to the popular Song era literary category of 'travel record literature' (youji wenxue) that employed the use of narrative, diary, and prose styles of writing. Although other works in Chinese travel literature contained a wealth of cultural, geographical, topographical, and technical information, the central purpose of the daytrip essay was to use a setting and event in order to convey a philosophical or moral argument, which often employed persuasive writing.

For example, Su Shi's daytrip essay known as Record of Stone Bell Mountain, where he judges and then personally discovers whether or not ancient texts on 'stone bells' were factually accurate:

Prelude to a Water Melody and Charm of a Maiden Singer are thought to best represent the style of Su Shi's lyrics. Prelude to a Water Melody imagines extreme loneliness in heaven and entrusts the poet's hopes in securing eternal happiness in the earthly world. Charm of a Maiden Singer expresses the poet's uplifting sentiments by describing the grand view at the former site of the Red Cliff and praising the mettle of ancient heroes. Both lyrics were written at a time when the poet was frustrated in his career, therefore a tone of "life is but a dream" may be sensed now and then in the poems. Still, this cannot stifle the poet's enthusiasm and optimism conveyed in the poems.

The poems and lyrics of Su Shi were of a virile timbre and an unrestrained spirit. Most of Su Shi's poems were written to express his own feelings and sing the beauty of nature. Farewell to Lu Yuanhan Posted to Weizhou, Watching Rainstorms at the Hall of Youmei and Drinking after the Rain on the Lake are classic poems with an imagination unbounded, written in either powerful or refined and delicate strokes.

Compared to his poems, Su Shi's lyrics made an even greater impact in terms of creativity. He went beyond merely describing sorrows felt by parting lovers and broadened his canvas to include recollections of the past, travel notes and reasoning, sweeping aside the gentle and restrained style of the lyrics created in the late Tang Dynasty, to establish the powerful and free school of lyrics.

It is said that once during his free time; Su Dongpo decided to make stewed pork out of boredom. Then an old friend visited him in the middle of the cooking and challenged him to a game of Chinese chess. Su had totally forgotten of the stew during the game until a very fragrant smell came out from his kitchen. Thus Dongpo's Pork, a famous dish in Chinese cuisine, was created by accident.

Su Shi, his father Su Xun and younger brother Su Che were known as the "Three Sus". Su Shi was a master of all literary forms, including poetry, lyrics, Fu and prose essays. About 2,400 poems and lyrics by Su survived till ourdays, many of which are vivid evocations of the poet's own experiences. Though? his never built a perfect career, he ownrd positive attitude to life, and show ed his patriotism to country through his literature.