Born on the fourteenth day of January, 1037, in Meishan, Su Tung-po came into the world as a citizen of the Northern Song dynasty, a period that would define the full arc of his long and varied career across letters, governance, and the arts.

The chronology of his life stretches from his origins in Meishan through a career that encompassed an unusually broad range of pursuits. He worked as a poet, prose writer, essayist, and philosopher, producing writing in the Chinese language across multiple literary forms. His participation in the Classical Prose Movement placed him within a broader intellectual current that sought to reform and reinvigorate Chinese written expression. Beyond his literary output, he served as a politician, taking on the responsibilities of public office during a politically active era in Northern Song governance.

Su Tung-po's activities extended well beyond writing and statecraft. He practiced calligraphy and painting, bringing the same disciplined attention to visual art that characterized his written work. He also worked as a musician and as a pharmacist, occupations that underscore the range of domains in which he was active. As a scholar and historian, he engaged with the intellectual traditions of his time, adding historical inquiry to the already substantial list of fields in which he made contributions. His work as a writer drew on all these experiences, and his essays and poems reflect a career lived across an exceptional variety of roles.

Su Tung-po died on the thirty-first of August, 1101, in Changzhou, bringing to a close a life that had moved through poetry, philosophy, visual art, music, political service, and scholarship. He remains a recognized figure in the study of Chinese literary and cultural history, and his participation in the Classical Prose Movement continues to be noted by scholars examining the intellectual currents of the Northern Song dynasty. His writings in Chinese are catalogued under major international library authority records, attesting to the ongoing scholarly attention his body of work receives.