How did Su Shi evaluate his predecessor Han Yu?

Su Shi had a very high opinion of his predecessor Han Yu, which can be seen from the content of the article "Chaozhou Han Wengong Temple Stele" written for the newly built Han Yu Temple at the request of Wang Di, the magistrate of Chaozhou. Know a thing or two. In this article, Su Shi praised Han Yu from many aspects. One of the sentences "The rise of literature has declined for eight generations" reflects Su Shi's highest evaluation of Han Yu's literary achievements.

Han Yu and Su Shi had similar situations in many aspects. Han Yusheng came from a family of officials during the period when the Tang Dynasty was in decline. He received a good education since childhood and was especially good at writing articles. When he was young, he was motivated to become an official to benefit the people and serve the country. But bad luck forced him to pass the scientific examination four times. He finally found an official position, but because of his arrogance as a scholar, he offended the powerful many times and was not allowed to be re-employed. He was depressed and frustrated. In Su Shi's era, the Northern Song Dynasty was already showing signs of poverty and weakness. Although he had a passion for serving the country and a wealth of economics and knowledge, his inexorable scholarly spirit also made his official career difficult, and he experienced ups and downs in the officialdom.

However, Han Yu was not depressed because of his failure in his official career, and instead focused his efforts on the literary world. Han Yu believed that most of the articles at that time could pursue confrontation, but only focused on form rather than connotation, so he and Liu Zongyuan jointly initiated the "Ancient Prose Movement", which caused a huge disturbance in the literary world and had a great influence on later generations. Su Shi also reformed the style of Ci and advocated that Ci is a family of its own, turning Ci from "Yanqu" into an independent genre.

Probably because of similar experiences and similar talents, Su Shi probably admired and approved of Han Yu very much. In the article "Stele of Han Wengong Temple in Chaozhou", it is also said that Han Yu's writing achievements have surpassed any previous dynasty. He also praised Han Yu's integrity and loyalty as an official, and praised Han Yu's political achievements when he was an official in Chaozhou. At the same time, Wei felt aggrieved that Han Yu was not reused in the imperial court. All in all, Su Shi had a very high opinion of Han Yu, which can be summed up in one sentence: "The Decline of the Eight Dynasties".