Su Song

Biography

Family Background and Early Years

Su Song was born on the twenty-third day of the eleventh month of 1020, the fourth year of the Tianxi era under Emperor Zhenzong of Song, at Lushan Hall in Tong'an County, Quanzhou, Fujian Circuit, now part of central Tong'an District in Xiamen. Volume 340 of the History of Song, in the biography of Su Song, states: “Su Song, courtesy name Zirong, was a man of Nan'an in Quanzhou. His father Shen was buried at Danyang in Runzhou, and therefore the family moved there.” Su Song came from a prominent Minnan family whose ancestral home was Su Dui in Gushi, Guangzhou, now Sugang Village in Huzupu Township, Gushi, Henan. His father Su Shen held a succession of important offices. By regulation, Su Song could have obtained a capital post through hereditary privilege without taking the examinations, but he declined and concentrated on the civil examinations. From youth he was quick-witted and diligent in study.

Examination Success and Local Administrative Experience

In 1042, the second year of the Qingli era under Emperor Renzong, Su Song passed the jinshi examination in the same cohort as Wang Anshi. He was appointed Judicial Assistant of Hanyang Military Prefecture but did not take office and was reassigned as Judicial Assistant of Suzhou. The following year, 1043, he was promoted to govern Jiangning County, approximately in 1044, the fourth year of the Qingli era. From the beginning of his local administrative career he governed according to established procedures and won praise from supervisory officials Wang Ding, Wang Chuo, Yang Hong, and others. In Jiangning he participated directly in implementation of the Qingli reforms, investigating tax evasion by wealthy households, verifying adult male and property registers, compiling household records, and assessing taxation according to the registers. This both increased state revenue and reduced the burden on poor households.

Su Song later left office to observe mourning for his father. After the mourning period, he served as Judicial Assistant to the Southern Capital administration at Yingtian Prefecture. Ouyang Xiu, then in charge of the Southern Capital, relied heavily on him and entrusted administrative business to him, saying that Zirong handled affairs with precision and that once Su Song had reviewed a matter, Ouyang no longer needed to inspect it. The former chief councillor Du Yan, then living in retirement at Suiyang, also valued him highly and carefully instructed him in the experiences of his own career, from minor office through service as an attendant official and chief councillor. At the end of Su Song's three-year term, his father Su Shen died. Su Song again left office to mourn, buried his father at Jingkou, and thereafter moved to Danyang in Runzhou.

Court Scholarly Service and Accumulation of Learning

In 1053, the fifth year of the Huangyou era, Su Song was summoned to court and appointed probationary collator in the imperial libraries, beginning a long career of collating and organizing ancient texts. He was soon promoted within the Court of Judicial Review. In 1054, the first year of the Zhihe era, he was transferred to concurrent service in the Court of Imperial Sacrifices. In 1057 he became collator at the Jixian Institute and an official charged with revising medical books. In 1059 he also served as a secondary examiner for the palace examination, and in the following year he was transferred to a scholarly post in the Court of Imperial Sacrifices while continuing his medical-text work. During these years he was described as maintaining himself with integrity and quiet restraint, devoting his attention to collating and compiling ancient books. This gave him unusually broad access to documentary materials and helped make him an exceptionally learned scholar. Chief councillors Fu Bi and Han Qi likewise regarded him as able and specifically asked what appointment he desired. Rather than seek a capital post for himself, Su Song requested an outside assignment, which caused Fu and Han to admire him even more.

Local Government and Missions to Liao

In 1061, the sixth year of the Jiayou era, Su Song left court to govern Yingzhou. In 1063 he was recalled and made inspector of the counties and towns in the Kaifeng metropolitan region. Emperor Renzong had just died and construction of the imperial mausoleum required unusual supplies from various prefectures. Su Song argued that the late emperor's testamentary edict demanded frugality and that localities should not be forced to provide goods they did not produce. In this way he reduced burdens on the people.

In 1065 he was transferred to a fiscal post in the central government, later rose through positions including Director in the Ministry of Works, and then became Transport Commissioner of Huainan. In the eighth month of 1067, before leaving for Huainan, Su Song served as escort to a Liao envoy. At Enzhou an official relay station suddenly caught fire. Su Song remained calm and acted appropriately, preventing disorder and keeping the Liao mission from serious disturbance. The newly enthroned Emperor Shenzong praised him highly. When Su Song appeared at court, the emperor questioned and rewarded him with marked favor. Several months later Su Song was recalled and ordered to compile the imperial daily records. In the same year he served as a birthday envoy to the Liao empress dowager. During this period he also successively handled affairs in offices connected with the Ministry of Rites, the fiscal administration, and the Court of Imperial Sacrifices.

Political Reversals and the Yuanfeng Institutional Reforms

In 1068, the first year of the Xining era, Su Song was promoted to imperial edict drafter. In 1069 he became an official of the memorial-transmission and remonstrance system while also serving in judicial review, the office for official certificates, and the Court of Agricultural Administration, and he again served as official host for a Liao birthday mission.

In 1070, while temporarily participating in the metropolitan examinations, Su Song became involved in the controversy over Li Ding's alleged concealment of mourning. He resisted chief councillor Wang Anshi's exceptional promotion of the Xiuzhou assistant administrator Li Ding to a post serving the heir apparent and simultaneously to acting service in the Censorate. Su Song three times refused to draft the appointment edict, angering Emperor Shenzong and causing his removal from office. His refusals were based on stated principles. First, he maintained that officials should be recommended publicly, tested in actual duties, and promoted only after achievements and reputation were established; Li Ding's exceptional advancement violated earlier regulations. Second, he argued that Li Ding did not meet the standard for such advancement because he had previously had no established reputation and should not be promoted merely because one imperial audience had gone well. Third, he proposed that Li Ding first receive an ordinary promotion and serve near the emperor for observation, with exceptional advancement only if he later demonstrated outstanding plans or ability.

In 1071 Su Song was sent to govern Wuzhou, in 1073 he was transferred to Bozhou, and in 1075 he again governed Yingtian Prefecture. While holding local posts, he paid close attention to popular hardship and was known to Emperor Shenzong for his concern for the people. In the first month of 1076, when Suzhou and Hangzhou again suffered natural disasters, Shenzong said that Su Song was humane and generous and would surely be able to pacify the people of Wu, and appointed him to govern Hangzhou. In 1077 Su Song was recalled from Hangzhou to participate in compiling the veritable records of Emperors Renzong and Yingzong. In the eighth month, while serving as Director of the Palace Library and Academician of the Jixian Institute, he was again sent as birthday envoy to the ruler of Liao, carrying the titles Longtu Pavilion Direct Academician and Supervising Secretary.

In 1078, the first year of the Yuanfeng era, Su Song served as acting prefect of Kaifeng and governed through strict enforcement of law. Because he did not punish a monk whose case implicated Li Chun, magistrate of Xiangfu County, the censor Shu Dan impeached him for allegedly “deliberately allowing wrongdoing.” In the first month of 1079 Su Song was demoted to Director of the Palace Library, Academician of the Jixian Institute, and prefect of Haozhou. From 1080 to 1081 he was transferred successively from Haozhou to govern Heyang Military Prefecture and Cangzhou. In 1081 he was again recalled to court and ordered to head the Ministry of Personnel while also participating in detailed review of the official system. He worked to reform institutional defects and proposed the Ministry of Personnel's “Four Selection” method. In 1082 he served as official host for a Liao mission offering New Year congratulations.

Chief Councillorship and Later Years

Early in the Yuanyou era, beginning in 1086, Empress Dowager Gao governed as regent for Emperor Zhezong and the old faction held power. Su Song was appointed Minister of Justice, then Minister of Personnel and Hanlin Reader-in-Waiting, and later Hanlin Academician-in-Waiting. In 1090 he was promoted to Left Vice Director of the Department of State Affairs. In the fourth month of 1092 he became Left Guanglu Grand Master, Acting Right Vice Director of the Department of State Affairs, and Vice Director of the Secretariat, formally entering the chief councillorship.

As chief councillor Su Song followed established precedents and emphasized that officials should obey the law and fulfill their assigned duties. He selected people according to merit and warned frontier commanders not to begin wars lightly. In the third month of 1093 he failed to prevent senior official Jia Yi from being sent out of the capital and repeatedly requested resignation. He was removed from the chief councillorship and made Grand Academician of Guanwen Hall and supervisor of Jixi Abbey. Six months later he was sent to govern Yangzhou. In 1094 he was transferred to Henan Prefecture but declined the post, although Emperor Zhezong initially refused his request. After his mother, Lady Chen, died, Su Song asked earnestly to return south and was again appointed to govern Yangzhou. In 1095 he repeatedly petitioned to retire and was appointed superintendent of the Central Taiyi Temple, residing at Jingkou. In 1097 he petitioned again and was finally permitted to retire as Junior Preceptor of the Heir Apparent.

During the Shaosheng restoration of the New Policies, Su Song, already out of the chief councillorship, was protected by Emperor Zhezong because of his longstanding refusal to form factional alliances and his restrained conduct. His Fujian background also helped spare him from attacks by the reform faction. After Emperor Huizong ascended the throne, Su Song was promoted to Grand Guardian of the Heir Apparent, granted an additional four hundred households of nominal fief and one hundred households of actual revenue, and successively enfeoffed as Duke of Zhao Commandery. On the gengchen day of the fifth month of 1101, June 18, Su Song personally drafted his final memorial and died the same day in Runzhou at the age of eighty-two. Emperor Huizong suspended court for two days, posthumously awarded him the office of Minister of Works, sent an envoy to console the family, and ordered the state to provide for his funeral. In the eleventh month of 1102 he was buried on the northeastern slope of Wuzhou Mountain at Lean Pavilion, Yili Township, Dantu County, Runzhou. During the reign of Emperor Lizong of Song he received the posthumous name Zhengjian.

Major Activities

Political Activities

Su Song served in government for more than fifty years, moving from local office to the central administration and eventually the chief councillorship. In Jiangning County he investigated tax evasion by wealthy households, verified adult male and property registers, compiled household records, and taxed according to the registers, increasing state revenue while reducing pressure on the poor. As Judicial Assistant to the Southern Capital administration, Ouyang Xiu praised him for handling affairs with precision.

In local office Su Song sought to benefit the population. As inspector of the counties and towns in the Kaifeng metropolitan region, he proposed dredging four waterways to drain standing water around the capital, protecting farmland and reducing flood damage. While governing Cangzhou, where the Yellow River had flooded, he warned against relying only on embankments without keeping outlets to the sea open. After investigation he proposed diverting part of the river through Santang Marsh and Heilonggang to the sea, describing the route and distances in detail. In Hangzhou he brought spring water from Phoenix Mountain into the urban area. In Huainan, seeing widespread suffering during famine, he memorialized for relief and considered not only immediate aid but also how to stabilize prices and restore displaced people to their livelihoods afterward.

At a time when temples and monasteries were being built widely and Emperor Shenzong frequently bestowed official plaques, increasing economic burdens on local people, Su Song petitioned that the court issue explicit regulations forbidding the special creation of new Buddhist and Daoist institutions and ordering illegally built establishments to be inspected and demolished.

In 1081 Su Song was recalled to the Ministry of Personnel to participate in the Yuanfeng reform of the official system. He worked on problems caused by the Song distinction among nominal offices that determined rank and salary, honorific scholarly posts, and actual functional assignments, a system that could make titles diverge from real duties and contribute to institutional confusion and redundant staffing. Drawing on Tang precedents in which the Ministry of Personnel divided selection functions by rank, Su Song proposed that civil and military selection be brought under the ministry, divided between left and right bureaus and further organized by rank. This became the ministry's “Four Selection” method.

Diplomatic Activities

Su Song twice served as an envoy to Liao and three times as an official responsible for accompanying Liao envoys, giving him extensive diplomatic experience. In the eighth month of 1067 he was escorting a Liao mission when a relay station at Enzhou caught fire; he remained calm and prevented disorder, so the visitors were not seriously disturbed. In 1077 he again served as a birthday envoy to the ruler of Liao while holding senior scholarly and remonstrance titles. In 1082 he served as official host to a Liao mission offering New Year congratulations. After returning from these diplomatic activities, he compiled the 250-juan Huarong Luwei Xinlu, recording more than eighty years of confidential Song-Liao diplomatic history and preserving substantial material for later generations.

Literary and Scholarly Contributions

Su Song was broadly learned in the classics and histories, the various philosophical traditions, mathematics, geography, mountain lore, materia medica, philology, and musical pitch systems. His long service in the imperial scholarly institutes gave him extensive access to old books and fostered his interest in medicine. At the Jixian Institute, together with contemporary pharmacologists Zhang Yuxi, Lin Yi, and others, he edited and supplemented the Jiayou Buzhu Bencao, and he helped correct and publish the Jibei Qianjin Fang and Shennong Bencao. On this foundation he independently compiled the twenty-one-juan Bencao Tujing. He also wrote the three-juan Xin Yixiang Fayao and the seventy-two-juan Collected Works of Duke Su of Wei, among other works.

Scientific Contributions

Su Song's greatest scientific achievement was the creation of the Water-Powered Astronomical Clock Tower, through which he reached an exceptional level in eleventh-century astronomy and mechanical construction. In 1088 he applied his knowledge of astronomy, mathematics, and mechanics and organized Han Gonglian, Zhou Riyan, and others to begin the project. Drawing on practical experience with water wheels, chain pumps, counterpoised lifting devices, cams, and other machinery, the team used calculations and model-making and completed the instrument in two years, in 1090. It combined astronomical observation, celestial demonstration, and automatic timekeeping in one structure and substantially advanced the functions and construction of earlier Chinese water-powered astronomical instruments.

The tower was a square wooden structure narrowing toward the top, three zhang and five chi high and two zhang and one chi wide at the base. It had three principal levels. The upper level held an armillary instrument for observation, equipped with a sighting tube for tracking celestial motion. The middle level was a celestial-demonstration platform containing a celestial globe on whose surface the forms and positions of stars and constellations were marked. Meridian and latitude rings surrounded the globe, and a “day-and-night mechanism” enabled the apparatus to reproduce celestial motions inside the tower in correspondence with the observed sky. The source describes this level as a precursor to modern indoor astronomical planetarium displays. The lower wooden pavilion contained five tiers with different numbers of wooden figures that announced hours, subdivisions of hours, and night watches. On the fifth tier, figures could automatically shift their positions according to seasonal changes and announce sunrise and sunset.

The roof was covered by nine movable panels, which the source describes as an ancestor of the movable dome of modern observatories. The celestial globe automatically made one uniform rotation per day, compared in the source to later tracking machinery in observatories. The automatic figures and related mechanisms were driven by a complex water-powered gear system. Its “celestial balance,” an escapement mechanism, is described as an early form of a key component of later clocks and as giving the apparatus characteristics of an astronomical clock.

Between 1094 and 1096, Su Song wrote the three-juan Xin Yixiang Fayao, explaining in detail the design and use of the Water-Powered Astronomical Clock Tower. The work included sixty-three illustrations, among them star maps recording 1,434 stars. The original tower was destroyed after it was abandoned by Jin troops following the Jingkang disaster. After the Southern Song court moved south, Emperor Gaozong wished to reproduce it. Su Song's son Su Xie presented his father's surviving writings, but no one at court could fully understand them, and Su Xie himself did not understand the mechanism, so no reconstruction was achieved. In 1958 the historian Wang Zhenduo successfully produced a reconstruction.

Contributions to Medicine and Pharmacology

Su Song directed or participated in the compilation of medical works including Bencao Tujing, Jiayou Buzhu Shennong Bencao, and Jibei Qianjin Fang. The source describes Bencao Tujing as a major pharmacological work that connected earlier traditions with later developments and as one of the most complete and systematic medical books of the Song. It inherited more than a millennium of Chinese materia-medica knowledge, added findings from Su Song's own research, and included numerous illustrations with written descriptions. It recorded the places of origin, morphology, properties, uses, collection seasons, preparation methods, identification methods, combinations, and contraindications of medicinal materials.

The work did not survive intact after Su Song's death, and its contents are known largely through citations in later materia-medica works. Li Shizhen's Compendium of Materia Medica preserved and drew on a considerable portion of it, though not enough to reconstruct the whole book.

Relations with Contemporaries

Su Song associated with Ouyang Xiu, Du Yan, Fu Bi, Han Qi, and other leading officials. When Ouyang Xiu administered the Southern Capital, he entrusted business to Su Song and praised his precision in handling affairs. Du Yan, living in retirement at Suiyang, valued him and shared the lessons of his own career. Chief councillors Fu Bi and Han Qi also regarded Su Song as able. Su Song and Wang Anshi passed the jinshi examination in the same year but came into conflict over the Li Ding appointment. Su Song collaborated with Han Gonglian on the Water-Powered Astronomical Clock Tower. He also had scholarly exchanges with Sima Guang and participated in collation work connected with the Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance.

Personal Relations

Family

• Father: Su Shen, who held a succession of senior offices; buried at Danyang in Runzhou, after which Su Song moved there
• Mother: Lady Chen, who died early in the Shaosheng era
• Son: Su Xie, who presented Su Song's surviving writings but did not understand the principles of the Water-Powered Astronomical Clock Tower

Teachers and Friends

• Ouyang Xiu: administrator of the Southern Capital who entrusted government business to Su Song and praised his precision
• Du Yan: former chief councillor who carefully instructed Su Song in his career experience
• Fu Bi and Han Qi: chief councillors who regarded Su Song as able
• Han Gonglian: collaborator in developing the Water-Powered Astronomical Clock Tower
• Zhou Riyan: official who participated in developing the tower
• Zhang Yuxi and Lin Yi: collaborators in editing and supplementing the Jiayou Buzhu Bencao
• Sima Guang: scholarly associate; Su Song participated in collation work connected with the Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance

Rulers and Ministerial Relationships

• Emperor Renzong of Song: reign in which Su Song passed the examination and served in the imperial scholarly institutes
• Emperor Yingzong of Song: reign in which Su Song served in fiscal and other central posts
• Emperor Shenzong of Song: praised Su Song's calm handling of the relay-station fire, entrusted him with local administration, demoted him after the Li Ding controversy, and later recalled him for the Yuanfeng institutional reforms
• Emperor Zhezong of Song: appointed Su Song chief councillor and later permitted his retirement, while protecting him from factional attack
• Emperor Huizong of Song: promoted Su Song to Grand Guardian of the Heir Apparent and Duke of Zhao Commandery and posthumously awarded him the office of Minister of Works

Political Associations

• Wang Anshi: Su Song resisted Li Ding's exceptional promotion, refused three times to draft the appointment edict, and was removed from office
• Shu Dan: censor whose accusation of “deliberately allowing wrongdoing” led to Su Song's demotion
• Jia Yi: Su Song's unsuccessful opposition to Jia Yi's transfer contributed to his resignation as chief councillor
• Yang Wei and Lai Zhishao: remonstrance officials who accused Su Song of delaying imperial orders

Historical Assessment

Northern Song / Contemporary

• Ouyang Xiu: “Zirong handles affairs with precision. Once he has reviewed them, I need not examine them again.” (History of Song, biography of Su Song)
• Du Yan: “A man such as you is truly one whom neither intimacy nor distance can sway.” (History of Song, biography of Su Song)
• Emperor Shenzong of Song: “Su Song is humane and generous; he will surely be able to pacify the people of Wu.” (Extended Continuation of the Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance)
• Emperor Huizong of Song: on hearing of Su Song's death, suspended court for two days, posthumously awarded him the office of Minister of Works, and sent an envoy to console his family. (History of Song, biography of Su Song)

Song and Yuan Periods

• The History of Song biography states that Su Song understood the classics and histories, the various schools, prognostic charts, musical pitch systems, astronomy, mathematics, mountain lore, and materia medica.
• During the reign of Emperor Lizong of Song he received the posthumous name Zhengjian, affirming his lifetime conduct. (Minzhong Lixue Yuanyuan Kao, juan 12)
• Zhu Xi is recorded as describing Su Song as “broadly learned and precise, skilled in investigation.” (Classified Conversations of Master Zhu)

Ming and Qing Periods

• Li Shizhen of the Ming cited Bencao Tujing extensively in the Compendium of Materia Medica and described its evidential research as detailed and clear.
• Ji Yun of the Qing, in the Annotated Catalogue of the Complete Library of the Four Treasuries, said that Xin Yixiang Fayao presented the principles of construction from beginning to end.
• Qing scholar Qian Daxin described Su Song as broadly learned in the full range of books and especially accomplished in calendrical science and mathematics.

Modern and Contemporary

• British historian of science Joseph Needham analyzed Xin Yixiang Fayao in detail in Science and Civilisation in China and regarded the Water-Powered Astronomical Clock Tower as one of the greatest mechanical achievements of the medieval period.
• Historian Wang Zhenduo successfully reconstructed the Water-Powered Astronomical Clock Tower in 1958, affirming Su Song's mechanical design.
• Modern scholarship commonly describes Su Song as an “eleventh-century Chinese polymath,” with scientific achievements that surpassed his political reputation.