Su Ting

Life

Gifted with a quick mind and strong memory in childhood, he passed the jinshi examination in early adulthood and was appointed magistrate of Wucheng. During the reign of Wu Zetian, he also passed the Worthy and Upright examination in the exceptional category, entered office as a military aide in the Left Guard Command, and was promoted to Investigating Censor. During the Shenlong era, he successively held the offices of Jishizhong, Scholar of the Xiuwen Academy, and Zhongshu Sheren, and was appointed drafter of imperial edicts; during the Jingyun era, he took leave after his father's death, returned as Vice Minister of Works, inherited his father's Xuguo title, and became Vice Director of the Secretariat.

In 716, Su Ting became Ziwei Shilang and concurrently Tong Ziwei Huangmen Pingzhangshi, serving as a chancellor for four years; he shared responsibility for state affairs with Song Jing. In 720, he was removed from the central government and appointed Minister of Rites, concurrently serving as acting chief administrator of the Yizhou Grand Governorship and as inspector of Jiannan. He held the office of zhou cishi at Chengdu Fu from 720 to 721 and again from 723 to 724, and in 725 was placed in charge of the Ministry of Personnel selections. He died in 727 at the age of fifty-eight, and was posthumously presented with the title Right Vice Director of the Secretariat and the name Wenxian.

Literary career

Su Ting was renowned for prose: many court edicts came from his hand, and his style was ornate and stately. He also wrote poetry, which was described as refined and richly sustained, with high structural strength, though his poetic reputation did not equal his reputation for prose. He was also a calligrapher and once composed and wrote the inscription for the stele of Guo Zhiyun, military commissioner of Longyou. Together with Zhang Yue, Duke of Yan, he was celebrated for his literary writing as one of the “Yan–Xu great stylists” (燕許大手筆).

When Su Ting was serving as chief administrator of Yizhou in 720, Li Bai presented a visiting letter. Su Ting received him with 布衣之禮, praised him as 天才英麗, and said that further learning could make him comparable to Sima Xiangru; he also wrote an epitaph for Tang Xiujing.

Works

His original collection, 《Su Ting ji》, comprised thirty scrolls but has been lost. 《Complete Tang Poems》 preserves two scrolls of his poetry, and 《Supplement to Complete Tang Poems》 adds one poem. Later compilations include the two-scroll 《Su Tingshuo ji》; another tradition identifies an eleven-scroll 《Su Xugong wenji》, compiled by Su Tingyu in the Qing, whereas the two-scroll collection is attributed to a Ming compiler. Other bibliographical titles include 《Longshang ji, one scroll》 and 《Wenji (Su Ting)》。