On equal popularization enjoyed by Su Dongpuo and Huang Tingjian and whether Su's or Huang's poems are better

Su Dongpo,together with his students including Huang Tingjian,promoted the development of poems written in the Song Dynasty to a new stage,and eventually formed the best Song poems,whose unique stylistics and writing technique were in fact as good as that of the poems in the Tang Dynasty.This fact resulted in serial arguments among later scholars on whether Tang or Song poems were better,on whether Su Dongpo or Huang Tingjian's poems are better,etc.This paper has re-examined all relevant views that appeared after the Song Dynasty;based on the examination,it has determined the time when Su Dongpo and Huang Tingjian's names began to be called together.The paper has also analyzed each of the four types of views on the superiority of Su and Huang's poems.A conclusion is drawn that this argument by its nature resulted from different understandings of development routes of poems.