WANG ANSHI'S REFORM

Wang Anshi's Reform

Wang Anshi's Reform

Introduction

Under the Song Dynasty, the growth of large estates, whose owners managed to evade paying their share of taxes, resulted in an increasingly heavy burden of taxation on the peasantry. To make matters worse, two powerful states arose along China's northern borders, and annexed traditional Chinese land, while insisting on tribute from China. This forced China to maintain a large, expensive army that happened to be ineffective on the field of battle. The drop in state revenues, a succession of budget deficits, and widespread inflation prompted the Emperor Shenzong (r. 1068-85) of Song to seek advice on reforming the government. After other officials proved unable to provide a solution, the emperor then turned to Wang Anshi for answers to the budget problem. Wang came from a family of imperial scholars and placed fourth in the imperial exam of 1042. At age 21 Wang earned his jinshi (“advanced scholar”) degree in the civil service examinations, and for sixteen years he served ably as a local administrator in various posts in the south, in the Yangtze region. (Reynolds, 1995)

While in the southern provinces, he repeatedly refused appointments and promotions. The more he refused appointments, the more his fame grew. He had in fact proved himself while in the provinces. He had built dams, reformed schools, and administered loans for farmers. He had also written prose and poetry. Then, in 1058, Wang Anshi traveled to the capital, Kaifeng, from his home province of Jiangxi to present what would be his most famous memorial to the Emperor Renzong (r. 1022-63). His “Ten Thousand Word Memorial” contained the basics of his later policies and political theories. (Reynolds, 1995) Although Wang entered the imperial government in 1060, it wasn't until after the succession of a new emperor, Shenzong, in 1067, that he achieved a powerful rank close to the throne and gains the trust of the emperor. Before Shenzong acceded to the throne, while still a crown prince, his secretary, Han Wei, a great admirer of Wang Anshi, would discuss policy the emperor. When Shenzong would agree, Han would tell him that it wasn't his own idea, but Wang's—thus, improving Wang's standing in the eyes of the heir to the throne. In 1067, as soon as he had ascended to the throne, at the age of 20, Shenzong had Wang appointed chief magistrate of Nanking, and later, in September of that year, to the rank of a Hanlin scholar (a select group of scholars at the Hanlin Academy, who performed ex officio duties for the Emperor). Wang accepted the post at once, but still delayed returning to the capital. Finally, in April 1068, he appeared in the capital. (Foreign Broadcast Information, 1984)

In February 1069, Wang was appointed a vice-premier. It was from this position that he introduced and promulgated his reform policy, referred to as the “New Policies” or “New Laws.” There were three main components to this policy--state finance and trade, defense, and ...