Guo Zhongshu

Su Shi's eulogy as well as later anecdotes celebrated his apparent free spirit, wit, courage, and egalitarian tendencies.

[1] A child prodigy, at the age of 6 he could already recite Confucian classics and compose essays, and that year he passed the Later Tang dynasty's national children's examination (童子科).

[4] (The exam was for children under 15 who could recite Classics and compose poetry in both the shi and fu forms, recommended by the prefect and personally tested by the emperor.

On 4 January, senior official Feng Dao was sent with her edict to Xu Prefecture to escort Liu Yun back to the capital.

When Guo Chongwei came to Song Prefecture, he first met with Feng Dao outside the city gate before venturing inside to meet with Liu Yun.

It states that Guo Zhongshu resigned from his post before 950, following a quarrel with Dong Yi (董裔), a staff supervisor (判官).

One day in 961, Guo Zhongshu came to the imperial court very drunk and argued loudly with Fu Zhaowen (符昭文), a Secretariat of the Heir Apparent (太子中舍).

Due to these unruly behaviors, on 10 October 961, he was banished to Qian Prefecture to serve as a revenue administrator (司戶參軍),[11] but he did not mend his ways there.

After he drunkenly beat up a local clerk named Fan Di (范滌) and failed to report for duty, he was arrested and further banished to Lingwu.

People thought he was odd: he could be seen standing under the scorching sun during the summer, and swimming in rivers floating with ice during the winter.

The aristocrats and royalty whose homes he frequented often had to entice him with good wine, and a white scroll would be prepared beforehand on the wall: if he was in the mood he would finish a painting, but requesting one would result in him leaving in a huff.

[12] Zhao Guangyi became the emperor in 976, and being a connoisseur he summoned Guo Zhongshu back to the imperial court and provided him with sumptuous gifts such as silver belts.

Ending his 15-year exile, Guo Zhongshu returned to the Directorate of Education to assume the position of master of records (主簿).

[6] Because cutting off one's body hair was contrary to Confucian social norms, Guo Zhongshu was removed from the Directorate of Education and assigned to the Taixue to review historical manuscripts.

Only one work is extant,[13] the palaeographic compilation Han Jian (汗簡), which, among other materials, features the inscriptions of the Stone Drums of Qin.