Wang Anshi

Wang Anshi

Wang Anshi (December 18, 1021 - May 21, 1086), whose name is Jiefu, is called Banshan. Linchuan, Fuzhou (now Fuzhou City, Jiangxi Province) people. Statesman, writer, thinker and reformer in Northern Song Dynasty.

In 1042, Wang Anshi became a scholar. He has successively served as the magistrate of Yangzhou, the magistrate of Yin County, and the general magistrate of Shuzhou, with remarkable achievements. In the second year of Xining reign (1069), he was promoted by Emperor Shenzong of Song Dynasty to be an official. The next year, he paid homage to the prime minister and presided over the political reform. Because of the opposition of the Conservatives, the prime minister was dismissed in 1074. A year later, he was used again by Shenzong, and soon he quit his prime minister and retired to Jiangning. In the first year of Yuanyou (1086), the Conservatives gained power and all the new laws were abolished. Wang Anshi died in Zhongshan at the age of 66. He was given the title of "Wen" by Taifu and King Shu, and was known as the king Wengong in the world.

Wang Anshi devoted himself to the study of Confucian classics, wrote books and theories, created "Jinggong's new learning", and promoted the formation of the learning style of doubting Confucian classics in Song Dynasty. In philosophy, he used the theory of five elements to explain the formation of the universe, which enriched and developed the thought of simple materialism in ancient China. His philosophical proposition of "new and old eliminate each other" pushed ancient Chinese dialectics to a new height.

In literature, Wang Anshi has made outstanding achievements. His prose is concise, concise, concise, clear-cut, logical and persuasive, which gives full play to the practical function of ancient prose and ranks among the "eight great poets of Tang and Song Dynasties"; his poetry is "thin and hard to learn from Du", good at reasoning and rhetoric. In his later years, his poetic style is implicit, deep and graceful, which makes him a famous poet in the Northern Song Dynasty The poems are full of nostalgia for the past, empty and boundless in artistic conception, and simple in image. There are works such as Linchuan collection.

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Life of the characters

Young talents

Wang Anshi was born on November 13, the fifth year of emperor Zhenzong of Song Dynasty (December 18, 1021). He was in Linchuan County, Fuzhou (today's Fuzhou City, Jiangxi Province) on Jiangnan West Road. According to the historical records of Qingjiang County quoted by Cai Shangxiang of the Qing Dynasty, because Wang Yi, the father of Wang Anshi, was a judge of Linjiang army at that time, "his son (Wang) Anshi was born here, and later generations named him Weisong because of his hall.".

Wang Anshi has been intelligent since he was a child. He is fond of reading. He never forgets what he sees and writes. For a long time, he followed his father to travel all over the country, contacted the reality and experienced the sufferings of the people. The article has profound and wonderful views, with extensive quotations, and has the ambition of changing customs.

In 1037, Wang Anshi went to Beijing with his father and made friends with Zeng Gong. Zeng Gong recommended his works to Ouyang Xiu and was greatly appreciated.

In the second year of Qingli (1042), Wang Anshi ranked the fourth in the list of Jinshi and was awarded the judge of Huainan Festival. At the end of his term of office, Wang Anshi gave up the chance to enter the pavilion in Beijing and was transferred to the magistrate of Yin county. During his four years in office, Wang Anshi made initial achievements in building water conservancy projects and expanding schools.

In the third year of emperor you's reign (1051), Wang Anshi was appointed as the general judge of Shuzhou. Wen Yanbo, the prime minister, recommended Wang Anshi to Renzong for his indifference to fame and wealth, and for his obedience to discipline and morality. He asked the imperial court for praise to encourage customs. Wang Anshi refused because he didn't want to stir up the wind of promotion. Ouyang Xiu recommended him as an admonitor, while Wang Anshi declined with his grandmother's high age. Ouyang Xiu also appointed Wang Anshi as the magistrate of the herd on the ground that he had to be paid to support his family. Soon after, Wang Anshi became the magistrate of Changzhou, and he got to know Zhou Dunyi, and his reputation was growing.

Wang Anshi advocated "enriching the people" to save the "poor". "If you have a secretary, you have to do something. If you want to get rich people's land, you can get plenty of grain and sell it several times. The poor were hit by the disaster. You have to be compassionate. "

Chen Shuo on political affairs

In the third year of Jiayou reign (1058), Wang Anshi was appointed as a judge of Duzhi. Wang Anshi went to Beijing to report on his work. He wrote the book of emperor Renzong's speech, which was as long as ten thousand words, and systematically put forward the idea of reform. In this Shangshu, Wang Anshi summed up his many years of local officials' experience, pointed out the reality of the country's weakness and poverty: economic distress, bad social atmosphere, national defense security. He believed that the root of the problem was that the politicians did not understand the law, and the fundamental way to solve it was to follow the ancient sages and reform the system, and then put forward his own basic ideas of talent policy and scheme It is suggested that the imperial court should reform the selection of talents and attach importance to talents.

Wang Anshi advocated a comprehensive reform of the legal system since the early Song Dynasty to get rid of the accumulated disadvantages of the Song Dynasty and reverse the situation of poverty and weakness. Taking the fact that Sima Yan, Emperor Wu of Jin Dynasty, and Li Longji, Emperor Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty, only wanted to "relax" and did not seek reform, but ended up being destroyed as an example, they demanded the immediate reform of the legal system. But Renzong didn't adopt Wang Anshi's idea of reform.

A plea to court

Since then, the imperial court has repeatedly appointed Wang Anshi to the post of Pavilion, but they all refused. The literati thought that Wang Anshi had no intention of fame and official career, so they regretted that they had no chance to meet him. The imperial court repeatedly wanted to entrust important tasks, but they were worried that Wang Anshi would not be an official. Wang Anshi was appointed by the imperial court to practice the notes on daily life together with others, and Wang Anshi accepted it after many times of resignation. Soon after, Wang Anshi was appointed to the imperial court to examine the criminal and prison cases in the capital, which was a great event.

During Wang Anshi's tenure in Beijing, the imperial court stipulated that the Sheren's court should not apply for the deletion and alteration of the imperial edict. Wang Anshi thought that legislation should not be like this. He argued with reason and offended the princes and ministers. In 1063, Wang Anshi died of his mother's illness, so he resigned and returned to Jiangning to watch the funeral.

During the reign of song Yingzong (1063-1066), Wang Anshi was repeatedly recruited to work in Beijing. He refused to enter the court on the grounds of mourning his mother and illness.

Go beyond the second to the right

In 1067, Emperor Shenzong of the Song Dynasty ascended the throne. Because he admired Wang Anshi for a long time, he was appointed magistrate of Jiangning, and immediately he was appointed academician and minister. From then on, Wang Anshi was deeply respected by the gods.

In April of the first year of Xining (1068), Shenzong summoned Wang Anshi to get rid of the political and economic crisis of Song Dynasty and the constant invasion of Liao and Xixia. Wang Anshi proposed that "the way of governing the country should first determine the innovation method"; he encouraged Shenzong to follow Yao and Shun's example and simplify the legal system. Shenzong agreed with Wang Anshi's ideas and asked him to do his best to accomplish this task.

Wang Anshi then published the book "the hundred years of nothing happened in this dynasty", explaining the situation and reasons of peace and tranquility in the early Song Dynasty, pointing out the dangerous social problems at that time, expecting Shenzong to make achievements in politics, and believing that "the time of great achievements is today".

Xining reform

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< sub > Xining reform

In the second year of Xining (1069), Shenzong appointed Wang Anshi to participate in political affairs and become one of the ruling officials. Wang Anshi put forward that the most urgent task is to change customs and establish laws. He proposed reform, which Shenzong agreed with. In order to guide the implementation of the reform, the Department of system, institution and regulation was set up, which was jointly controlled by Wang Anshi and Chen Shengzhi. Wang Anshi appointed LV Huiqing to undertake the daily affairs of the Department of ordinances, and dispatched more than 40 officials to enact the new law.

In the third year of Xining (1070), Wang Anshi was appointed as the chief minister of tongzhongshu. He carried out the new law all over the country and began a large-scale reform movement. In terms of finance, the new laws include the uniform transportation law, the green seedling law, the Municipal Trade Law, the exemption law, the tax law of Fangtian, and the farmland water conservancy law; in terms of military affairs, the general law, the Baojia law, and the horse protection law.

In 1071, Wang Anshi issued a decree to reform the imperial examination system, abolishing the old system of selecting scholars by poetry and Fu, and restoring the system of selecting scholars by "spring and Autumn Annals" and "sanzhuan Mingjing". In the autumn of the same year, the Taixue sanshe system was implemented.

New and old party struggle

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< sub > old and new party struggle

At the beginning of the reform, Wang Anshi put forward the theory of treachery to Shenzong and suggested that Shenzong should distinguish villains and punish them. After the promulgation of the new law, Wang Anshi promoted LV Huiqing, Zhang Dun and Cai que to participate in the implementation of the reform.

The purpose of Wang Anshi's reform was to enrich the country and strengthen the army, so as to reverse the situation of poverty and weakness in the Northern Song Dynasty. However, the reform violated the interests of conservatives and was opposed by conservatives. In less than a year since the promulgation of the law, there has been a fierce debate and struggle between the supporters and opponents of the reform.

Lu Yao, the censor Zhongcheng, accused Wang Anshi of ten mistakes in the political reform. Shenzong was demoted as a local official, and Wang Anshi recommended LV Gong's works to replace him. Han Qi Shangshu advised Shenzong to stop the Qingmiao law. Under the great pressure of the opposition, Shenzong intended to agree. Zeng Gongliang and Chen Shengzhi, who were in power, took the opportunity to agree. Although Wang Anshi argued in many ways, Shenzong still believed that he should listen to suggestions from all sides. Later, Wang Anshi said he was ill at home, and then asked to resign. Han Jiang and others urged Shenzong to retain Wang Anshi, and Wang Anshi then reported the situation of various officials inside and outside the imperial court depending on each other and colluding with each other, and proposed that Shenzong should not be afraid of the vulgar and cherish the world.

The imperial censors Liu Shu, Liu Qi, Qian Yi, sun Changling, Wang zishao, Cheng Hao, Zhang Jian, Chen Xiang, Chen Jian, Xie Jingwen, Yang Hui, Liu Zhi, and the admonishment officials fan Chunren, Li Chang, sun Jue, and Hu Zongyu all left the court one after another because they disagreed with Wang Anshi. Wang Anshi soon promoted Xiuzhou pushing official Li Ding to be the censor. Song minqiu, Li Dalin, Lin Dan, Xue Changchao and Fan Yu impeached Li Ding for violating filial piety and were all dismissed from the court. After that, LV Huiqing left the imperial court because of her father's death. Wang Anshi entrusted Zeng BU with important tasks and trusted him very much.

In the third year of Xining (1070), Sima Guang wrote to Wang Anshi three times, listing the disadvantages of the implementation of the new law and asking Wang Anshi to abandon the new law and restore the old system. Wang Anshi wrote back (reply to Sima Jianyi), refuting Sima Guang's accusations one by one, and criticizing the scholar bureaucrat class's conformism, indicating his determination to adhere to the reform. Then Shenzong wanted to use Sima Guang as the Deputy envoy of Shumi. Sima Guang took the opportunity to reconsider and abolish the new law, but Shenzong didn't answer

Chinese PinYin : Wang An Shi