In the cultural landscape of China, Su Shi's (1037-1101) years in Danzhou form a unique cultural-geographic coordinate. In the fourth year of the Shaosheng era (1097), this literary giant in his sixties was exiled to Danzhou (present-day Hainan), then regarded as the "ends of the earth." Here, he established schools, taught students, and promoted agriculture and education, transforming this "wild frontier" into a cradle of Hainan's cultural heritage. Notably, Su Shi's Danzhou narrative is inextricably linked to the local salt economy—the labor rhythms of the salt fields and the intellectual order of the literati together wove a distinct cultural fabric.

 

Drawing on Sidney Mintz's analytical framework in Sweetness and Power, we treat salt as a key material medium for understanding Danzhou's culture. Just as sugar in the Caribbean became "the crystallized essence of imperial desire," Danzhou's salt industry carries multiple cultural codes: practical value as an economic pillar, a contested space between state power and local autonomy, and a tangible vessel of collective memory. This material culture perspective opens new interpretive possibilities for examining Su Shi's salt policy reforms.

 

Contemporary "Su Shi culture" is a dynamic construct:

Historical layering: From Song-era local education to modern cultural heritage

Spatial practices: Functional evolution of material sites like Dongpo Academy

Politics of memory: Dialogues and tensions between official narratives and oral traditions

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This course employs cultural anthropology's "thick description" to trace how this cultural symbol accrues new meanings across historical moments.