苏辙的一生行迹（1039-1112）
苏辙，字子由，眉州眉山人，苏轼之弟，唐宋八大家之一。十九岁与兄同榜进士及第，官至门下侍郎（副相）。文章汪洋淡泊，秀杰之气掩于深厚，著有《栾城集》，其政论与史论深具见地。
眉山（1039） · 眉山求学
宋仁宗宝元二年，苏辙出生于眉州眉山，为苏洵次子。自幼受父苏洵与母程氏教导，与兄苏轼同窗共读，兄弟感情深厚。苏辙性格沉稳内敛，与苏轼之豪放形成鲜明对比，苏洵常叹"二子性情各异，皆非凡器"。
开封（1057） · 入京及第
宋仁宗嘉祐二年，苏辙与兄苏轼同榜进士及第，年方十九。主考官欧阳修对其文章大加赞赏，称其"其学有根柢，其言有条理"。苏辙及第后授商州军事推官，但因父苏洵方修礼书，奏请留京侍父，未即赴任。
开封（1061） · 入京及第
宋仁宗嘉祐六年，苏辙参加制科考试，在策论中直言时政得失，言辞恳切激切，指陈仁宗怠政、因循守旧之弊。考官胡宿认为其言过激，主张黜落，仁宗却说："以直言召人，而以直言弃之，天下其谓朕何？"遂入第四等。
开封（1069） · 仕途波折
宋神宗熙宁二年，王安石推行新法，苏辙上书论新法之弊，与兄苏轼同属旧党。苏辙被任为制置三司条例司属官，虽在新法核心机构，却屡次上书反对青苗法等政策，与王安石意见不合。
许州（1080） · 仕途波折
宋神宗元丰三年，苏轼因乌台诗案下狱，苏辙时为著作佐郎，上书请求以己官赎兄之罪，言辞恳切至极，感动神宗。苏轼最终被贬黄州，苏辙亦受牵连，被贬为监筠州盐酒税，此后辗转许州等地任职。
开封（1086） · 元祐执政
宋哲宗元祐元年，旧党执政，苏辙被召回朝廷，历任右司谏、中书舍人、户部侍郎等职。他积极参与废除新法之议，在朝堂上据理力争，对青苗法、免役法等新法弊端逐条批驳，声望日隆。
开封（1092） · 元祐执政
宋哲宗元祐七年，苏辙升任门下侍郎，位列执政，为副宰相。这是苏辙仕途的巅峰，他在朝中主持政务，与吕大防、范纯仁等共理国事。此时苏轼亦在朝中任翰林学士，兄弟同朝为官，一时传为佳话。
筠州（1094） · 晚年归隐
宋哲宗绍圣元年，新党重新执政，苏辙因属旧党被贬至汝州，再贬至筠州。此后数年间，苏辙屡遭贬谪，先后被流放至循州等地。然而苏辙在贬所依然读书著述不辍，撰成《栾城后集》《栾城第三集》等重要著作。
许州（1102） · 晚年归隐
宋徽宗崇宁元年（1102年），苏辙获准定居许州，此后隐居于此十年。他在颍水之滨筑室而居，自号"颍滨遗老"，远离朝政，潜心著述。此时苏轼已卒，苏辙悲痛万分，为其兄撰写墓志铭，文辞哀婉深切。
许州（1112） · 晚年归隐
宋徽宗政和二年，苏辙病逝于许州，享年七十四岁。朝廷追复端明殿学士，谥号"文定"。苏辙一生历仕仁宗、英宗、神宗、哲宗、徽宗五朝，虽饱经贬谪之苦，却始终坚守信念，文章与人格皆为后世景仰。
The Life Journey of Su Zhe, the Steadfast Younger Brother
Su Zhe (1039-1112), the quieter Sus: nineteen when he passed the jinshi with his brother, twenty-three when his examination essay scolded the emperor to his face — and the emperor kept him. He offered his own office to buy his brother out of the Crow Terrace trial, followed him down through every exile, rose to the vice-chancellorship in the Yuanyou years, fell again with the party, and wrote the whole time: the Luancheng Collection, and at the end, Su Shi's epitaph — the longest act of brotherhood in Chinese literature.
Timeline of the Journey
- 1039 · Meishan — The second son: taught by father Su Xun and mother Lady Cheng at the same desk as his brother — steady where Shi was blazing, 'both of them extraordinary,' the father said.
- 1057 · Kaifeng — Jinshi at nineteen, in the same class as Su Shi. Ouyang Xiu's verdict: 'his learning has roots; his words have order.'
- 1061 · Kaifeng — The special examination: an essay indicting Renzong for laziness and caution. The examiners wanted it failed; the emperor refused — 'I summoned him with a call for frank speech; how would it look to fail him for it?'
- 1069 · Kaifeng — Wang Anshi's new laws: Su Zhe took a post in the new regulations commission and fought it from inside, memorial against memorial — until the fit was impossible.
- 1080 · Xuzhou — The Crow Terrace trial: his brother in prison and likely to die. Su Zhe's memorial offered his own office as ransom — the sentence softened to Huangzhou, and Su Zhe exiled in proportion to the salt-tax desk at Yunzhou.
- 1086 · Kaifeng — The Yuanyou restoration: back up through remonstrance and the secretariat to vice-chancellor at last (1092) — with Su Shi at the Hanlin: the brothers in office together, the capital watching.
- 1094 · Yunzhou — The new party's return: demoted again and again, out to Xunzhou at the far south — reading and writing all the way, the later Luancheng collections built in exile.
- 1102 · Xuchang — Permission to settle at Xuchang: ten years by the Ying river as the 'Old Man of the Ying Banks,' his brother now dead — the epitaph written, the grief held in prose.
- 1112 · Xuchang — Dead at seventy-four, canonized 'Wending,' having served five emperors and survived every purge but the last: the steadiest bamboo in the Song's political storm.
'Nothing is more delightful than to be free of care — my brother named my pavilion Kuai Zai, 'Delightful,' from beside the river of exiles.' Su Zhe wrote his masterpieces in other people's names and his brother's shadow — and is simply, in the end, one of the Eight Masters himself.
