At the age of nine, he read the Biography of Fan Pang. Fan Pang, who lived during the late Han dynasty, was a fearless, willful, and righteous patriot who repeatedly offended the court with his harsh, truthful words. A measure of the respect others had for him can be seen in the behavior of the man sent to arrest him.
九歲的時候，蘇東坡讀〈范滂傳〉，范滂是後漢時代嫉惡如仇、憂國憂民的氣節之士，後來要被逮捕處死的時候，奉令拘捕他的人都不敢去而逃亡。