This is a piece that combined poetry with calligraphy. It was written by Su Shi when he was in political trouble and demoted and dispatched to serve as a minor official in Huangzhou. The bleak weather and the Hanzi Festival only added to his melancholy. The strong emotions underlying the piece are comparable to the feeling embodied in the Wang Xizhi's Lanting Xu (蘭亭序) and the Yan Zhenqing's Draft of a Requiem to My Nephew (祭侄文稿).

Hanshi Festival (寒食節) is an ancient traditional Chinese festival celebrated for three consecutive days starting the day before the Qingming Festival (清明節) which falls on 4 or 5 April.]]>
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