Wang Anshi ( [wǎŋ ánʂɨ̌] ; Chinese : 王安石 ; December 8, 1021 – May 21, 1086), courtesy name Jiefu ( Chinese : 介甫 ), was a Chinese economist, philosopher, poet, and politician during the Song dynasty . He served as chancellor and attempted major and controversial socioeconomic reforms known as the New Policies . These reforms constituted the core concepts of the Song-dynasty Reformists, in contrast to their rivals, the Conservatives, led by the Chancellor Sima Guang .
66-536: Wang Anshi Chinese poet Zhang Anshi Chinese politician Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Anshi . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Anshi&oldid=1226912673 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description
132-579: A "perpetual wartime fiscal regime". Shenzong was particularly driven by his irridentist determination to recover the Sixteen Prefectures . Immediately after taking the throne in 1067, Emperor Shenzong established the Office of Expenditure Reduction with Sima Guang at its head to improve Song finances. Sima refused and instead issued a scathing report discussing the immensity of the dynasty's financial problems. Indeed, defense consumed 83% of
198-523: A decrease in government expenditures, since the local population was responsible for its own protection. The general and troops law ( jiangbingfa ), also known as the creation of commands law ( zhijiangfa ) targeted improving the relationship between high officials and common troops. The army was divided into commands units of 2,500 to 3,000 men that incorporated a mixed force of infantry, cavalry, archers, as well as tribal troops, instead of each belonging to their own individual unit. This did not include
264-492: A form of tax service with hired labor. Each prefecture calculated the funds needed for official projects in advance so that the funds could be distributed appropriately. The government also paid a premium of 20 percent in years of crop failures. Effectively, it transformed labor service to the government into a monetary payment, increasing tax revenue. However, people who were previously exempt from corvée labor were forced to pay taxes for labor on official projects, and thus protested
330-525: A mentor. Lü Huiqing , a reformer, gained Shenzong’s favor and harshly opposed Wang while building up his own power base. His own misbehavior broke up the reformist coalition and Wang was recalled to the capital to replace Lü. Wang did not stay for long and an astronomical omen (along with further misbehavior such as pretending to be sick and overworking his son to death) prompted the distraught man’s permanent retirement in 1076. Following Wang Anshi's permanent retirement in 1076, Shenzong took personal control of
396-475: A provincial exam graduate. In 1104, the prefectural examinations were abolished in favor of the three-colleges system, which required each prefecture to send an annual quota of students to the Taixue. This drew criticism from some officials who claimed that the new system benefited the rich and young, and was less fair because the relatives of officials could enroll without being examined for their skills. In 1121,
462-544: A severe drought afflicted Northern China. Many officials such as Han Wei thought that this was heaven’s punishment for instating the New Policies. This, along with the general controversy surrounding the New Polices and Wang’s own misbehavior regarding court factions prompted Shenzong to remove him from his post as chief minister in 1074. Shenzong nonetheless remained on the side of the reformers and retained Wang as
528-691: A thorn in the side of the Song Empire over the ensuing decades. Sima Guang , a minister interested in the history of the previous 1000 years, published the Zizhi Tongjian or A Comprehensive Mirror for Aid in Government in 1084. This book records historical events from the Zhou dynasty to the Song dynasty. Another notable literary achievement that occurred during his reign was the compilation of
594-405: A two-year period on which the students were graded. Those who achieved the superior grade on both exams were directly appointed to office equal to that of a metropolitan exam graduate. Those who achieved an excellent grade on one exam but slightly worse on the other could still be considered for promotion, and having a good grade in one exam but mediocre in another still awarded merit equal to that of
660-414: A view to succoring the working classes and preventing them from being ground into the dust by the rich." Wang proposed that "to manage wealth the ruler should see public and private [wealth] as a single whole." Wang believed that it was wealth that united the people and if wealth could not be administered properly, then even the lowliest men who did not possess political power would rise to take advantage of
726-474: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Wang Anshi Wang Anshi's ideas are usually analyzed in terms of the influence the Rites of Zhou or Legalism had on him. His economic reforms included increased currency circulation, breaking up of private monopolies, and early forms of government regulation and social welfare. His military reforms expanded
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#1732765964460792-635: The Ever-Normal Granaries who were managing the program were evaluated based on the revenue they could generate, this resulted in forced loans and lack of focus on the disaster relief, which was the original task of the Ever-Normal Granaries. In 1074, a famine in northern China drove many farmers off their lands. Their circumstances were made worse by the debts they had incurred from the seasonal loans granted under Wang's reform initiatives. Local officials insisted on collecting
858-536: The Seven Military Classics , including the alleged forgery of the Questions and Replies between Tang Taizong and Li Weigong . The disastrous defeat at the battle of Yongle City in 1082 during the Song invasion of Western Xia completely broke Shenzong’s spirit. In tears, he berated his councilors and said “Not a single one of you said that the [Yongle City] campaign was wrong.” He was crushed by
924-659: The Song dynasty . The project was discontinued in 1085. Emperor Huizong of Song (r. 1100–1125) tried to revive it but the implementation was too impractical and gave up after 1120. The system of taxation for mining products ( kuangshi difen zhi ) was a similar project to the equal tax law, except for regulating mining projects. The green sprouts law ( qingmiaofa ) was a loan to peasants. The government loaned money to buy seeds, or seeds themselves from state granaries, in two disbursements at an interest rate of 2 percent calculated at an average of ten years. Recollections occurred in
990-707: The Finance Planning Commission (which Wang had set up earlier that year) and instead rely on their power as Secretariats to manage the economy. Wang refused, reasoning that the Commission was needed to coordinate fiscal matters between the Secretariat and the Military Affairs Commission . He rejected Shenzong's proposal to have Wang head the Commission himself on the same grounds. In another instance, Shenzong proposed
1056-538: The Han and Tang dynasties, that they were only a tool for irredentism. The pro-New policies faction regained power when Emperor Zhezong came of age in 1093. The policies largely continued under the reign of Emperor Huizong until the end of the Northern Song dynasty in 1126. In addition to his political achievements, Wang Anshi was a noted poet. He wrote poems in the shi form, modeled on those of Du Fu . He
1122-552: The Khitan Liao dynasty . 5,300 Muslim men from Bukhara were encouraged and invited to move to China in 1070 by Shenzong to help battle the Liao empire in the northeast and repopulate areas ravaged by fighting. The emperor hired these men as mercenaries in his campaign against the Liao dynasty. Later on, these men were settled between the Song capital of Bianliang (today Kaifeng) and Yenching (modern Beijing). The circuits (道) of
1188-488: The Song bureaucracy as a secretary ( qianshu ) in the office of the assistant military commissioner ( jiedu panguan tinggonshi ) of Huainan ( Yangzhou , Jiangsu province). He was then promoted to district magistrate ( zhixian ) of Yinxian ( Ningbo , Zhejiang province ), where he reorganized hydrological projects for irrigation and gave credits to the peasant. Later he was promoted to controller general ( tongpan ) of Shezhou ( Qianshan , Anhui province). In 1060, he
1254-649: The Treasury remained as a depository for revenues from both the New Policies and state-run monopolies. Both the Ministry of Revenue and the Yuanfeng Treasury exercised substantial control over Song fiscal resources. The Yuanfeng Reforms were likely inspired by institutional reform proposals made during the reign of Emperor Renzong of Song and a concern towards the growing power of the Chief counsilorship , but
1320-600: The aims of the three-colleges was to provide a more balanced education for students and to de-emphasize Confucian learning. Students were taught in only one of the Confucian classics, depending on the college, as well as arithmetics and medicine. Students of the Outer College who passed a public and institutional examination were allowed to enter the Inner College. At the Inner College there were two exams over
1386-524: The ancient Roman embassies to Han and Three-Kingdoms era China, contact with Europe remained sparse if not nonexistent before the 13th century . However, from Chinese records it is known that Michael VII Doukas (Mie li yi ling kai sa 滅力伊靈改撒) of Fo lin (i.e. the Byzantine Empire ) dispatched a diplomatic mission to China's Song dynasty that arrived in 1081, during the reign of Emperor Shenzong. Emperor Shenzong's other notable act as emperor
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#17327659644601452-651: The child-emperor Zhezong and the incompetent emperor Huizong exposed the redundancy of such a system. The Finance Commission and Exchequer of Imperial Lands (institutions that predated the New Policies) were dissolved and replaced by the Ministry of Revenue . Shenzong made the Yuanfeng Treasury to raise funds for a renewed offensive against the Western Xia; although the offensive was defeated,
1518-585: The conservatives, particularly Fu Bi and Sima Guang , who were concerned with his expansion of monarchical power and who wanted to maintain the peaceful equilibrium with the Western Xia and the Liao Dynasty . Shenzong respected the conservative faction: he kept Fu Bi in the capital until 1072 and had close relations with Sima Guang, whom he admired for his morality and intelligence. Emperor Shenzong hired Muslim warriors from Bukhara to fight against
1584-400: The departments against each other. However, due to design flaws, the Secretariat quickly came to dominate the other two departments. Moreover, the strict division of the bureaucracy, in which every policy initiative had to take a complicated route to be approved, was inefficient. With Shenzong himself as the most active policy maker, this inefficiency was largely unproblematic, but the reigns of
1650-480: The dynasty's cash income, while the expanding and already-large bureaucracy was very costly to maintain. In 1069, after failing again to gain support for reform from the official Fu Bi , Shenzong made Wang Anshi the head of government and supported his consolidation of power and his New Policies. Shenzong largely delegated authority to Wang until his retirement in 1076. An exception was when Shenzong advised Wang Anshi and Chen Shengzhi in early winter 1069 to abandon
1716-406: The empire. One of the prominent victims of the political rivalry, the famous poet and statesman Su Shi (1037–1101), was jailed and eventually exiled for criticizing Wang's reforms. Sima and his allies opposed the reforms based on fiscal grounds, but also because they believed that the local elite families rather than the state should be the pillars of society. Fiscally, Wang made it clear that he
1782-474: The eyes and ears of the state in the country. The Green Sprouts program and the baojia system were not conceived as revenue-generating policies but soon were changed to finance new state initiatives and military campaigns. Within a few months of the start of the Green Sprouts program in 1069 the government started to charge an annual interest of 20–30% on the loans it made to farmers. As the officials of
1848-465: The government and stored for later sale at a lower price, disrupting price manipulation by merchant monopolies. Merchant guilds that cooperated with the market exchange bureau were allowed to sell goods to the government and buy commodities from government storehouses using money or credit at an interest rate of 10 percent for six months. Small or mid-sized companies and groups of five merchants could provide guarantee with their assets for credit. After 1085,
1914-490: The imperial army. The military failures of the Reforms, to which Shenzong had devoted immense amounts of energy, contributed to his eventual illness and death. The New Policies' circumvention of checks on central power was controversial from the onset; both Fu Bi and Sima Guang wrote memorials to Shenzong advising him to balance governmental function, respect the bureaucratic process, and not to support Wang Anshi. In 1074,
1980-455: The letter he blamed the downfall of previous dynasties on the refusal of their emperors to deviate from traditional patterns of rule. He criticized the imperial examination system for failing to create specialized workers. Wang believed that there should not be generalists but that people should specialize in their roles and not study extraneous teachings. His letter was ignored for ten years until Emperor Shenzong of Song (r. 1067–1085) succeeded
2046-444: The loans as the farmers were leaving their land. This crisis was depicted as being Wang’s fault. Wang still had the emperor's favor, though he resigned in 1076. With the emperor's death in 1085 and the return of the opposition leader Sima Guang, the New Policies were abolished under the regency of Dowager Empress Xiang . With Sima back in power, he blamed the New Policies' implementation on Shenzong's wish to extend Song borders to match
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2112-436: The local administration, Wang Anshi gained an understanding of the difficulties experienced by local officials and the common people. In 1058, he sent a letter ten thousand characters long ( Wanyanshu ; 万言书 / Yanshishu ; 言事书 / Shang Renzong Huangdi yanshi shu ; 上仁宗皇帝言事书 ) to Emperor Renzong of Song (r. 1022–1063), in which he suggested reforms to the administration in order to solve financial and organizational problems. In
2178-474: The local three-college system was abolished but retained at the national level. The reforms created political factions in the court. Wang Anshi's faction, known as the "Reformers", were opposed by the ministers in the "Conservative" faction led by the historian and Chancellor Sima Guang (1019–1086). As one faction supplanted another in the majority position of the court ministers, it would demote rival officials and exile them to govern remote frontier regions of
2244-538: The market exchange bureau and offices became profit making institutions, and bought cheap goods and sold at higher prices. The system stayed in place until the end of the Northern Song dynasty in 1127. The baojia system , also known as the village defense law or security group law, was a project to improve local security and relieve local government of administrative duties. It ordered groups of ten, fifty, and five hundred men security groups to be organized. Each
2310-580: The metropolitan and palace army. The system continued until the end of the Song dynasty . The three college law ( sanshefa ), also called the Three Hall system, regulated the education of future officials in the Taixue (National University). It divided the Taixue into three colleges. Students first attended the Outer College, then the Inner College, and finally the Superior College. One of
2376-509: The military in the north. To do this, Wang advocated for policies intended to alleviate suffering among the peasantry and to prevent the consolidation of large land estates which would deprive small peasants of their livelihood. He called social elements that came between the people and the government jianbing , translated as "engrossers." By "engrossers" he meant people who monopolized land and wealth and made others their dependents in wealth and agriculture. Wang believed that suppressing jianbing
2442-512: The new law. Although officially abolished in 1086, the new labor recruitment system existed in practice until the end of the Northern Song dynasty in 1127. The balanced delivery law ( junshufa ) was meant to curb the prices of commodities purchased by the government and to control the expenditures of the local administration. To do this, circuit level financial institutions in southeast China were made responsible for government purchases and their transport. The central treasury provided funds for
2508-542: The north and northeast were settled in 1080 when 10,000 more Muslims were invited into China. During his reign in 1068, Emperor Shenzong became interested in Wang Anshi 's policies and appointed Wang as the Chancellor . Wang implemented his famous New Policies aimed at improving the situation for the peasantry and unemployed. These acts became the hallmark reform of Emperor Shenzong's reign. Before Shenzong took
2574-532: The passive stance of his predecessors and wanted to improve the Song Dynasty's prestige via conquest. This irridentist attitude also contributed towards his desire to centralize fiscal matters: he told his war minister Wen Yanbo that "if we are to raise troops for our frontier campaigns, then our treasuries must be full." Furthermore, Shenzong was dissatisfied with the growing powers of ministers such as chief councilor Han Chi. Shenzong's goals were opposed by
2640-525: The philosophy of Wang Anshi was mostly focused on improving Yan's own popularity without holding any real power, and never became an effective alternative to military dictatorship. On the other hand, the popular scholar Lin Yutang cast Wang as the equivalent of communist totalitarian government in his biography of Wang's adversary Su Dongpo . Emperor Shenzong of Song The Emperor Shenzong of Song (25 May 1048 – 1 April 1085), personal name Zhao Xu ,
2706-749: The purchase of low cost goods wherever they were available, their storage, and transport to areas where they were expensive. Critics claimed that Wang was waging a price war with merchants. The market exchange law ( shiyifa ), also called the guild avoidance law ( mianshangfa ), targeted large trading companies and monopolies. A metropolitan market exchange bureau was set up in Kaifeng and 21 market exchange offices in other cities. They were headed by supervisors and office managers who dealt with merchants, merchant guilds, and brokerage houses. These institutions fixed prices for not only resident merchants but also itinerant traders. Surplus commodities were purchased by
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2772-409: The realization that his reforms, into which he had poured immense amounts of time and energy, had failed. Accordingly, his reformist zeal slowed down and he increasingly favored the conservatives, particularly Sima Guang. In Autumn 1084, Shenzong sensed he was dying and entrusted the heir to Sima Guang and Lü Gongzhu. Emperor Shenzong died in early 1085 at the age of 36 from an unspecified illness and
2838-650: The reform agenda and launched the Yuanfeng Reforms . He first significantly expanded his personal power and used the domineering official Cai Jue to keep the conservatives, many of whom had been invited back to court, in line with the emperor. In 1082, Shenzong restructured the bureaucracy and restored the Tang model of a central government organized around the Six Ministries by creating the Secretariat, Chancellery, and Department of State Affairs to balance
2904-550: The reforms of Wang Anshi as either principled and measured or misguided and disastrous. The twentieth-century Chinese warlord Yan Xishan cited the reforms of Wang Anshi to justify his use of a limited form of local democracy in Shanxi . Yan believed that the focus and intent of Wang's reforms was to strengthen the Song dynasty by persuading ordinary Chinese to give the dynasty their active support, instead of merely serving it. The system of "democratic" government that Yan justified via
2970-607: The reforms' rigidity likely contributed to the autocratic nature of the later dynasty. Unlike the New Policies, the Yuanfeng Reforms likely escaped the conservative anti-reform movement headed by Sima Guang and Grand Dowager Empress Xuanren due to their Tang inspiration and Shenzong's hand in heading them. Emperor Shenzong sent campaigns against the Vietnamese ruler Lý Nhân Tông of the Lý dynasty in 1076. Aside from
3036-499: The regular army. Though the New Policies gave Shenzong a large budget surplus, they failed to achieve their goal of improving the Song dynasty's military. The Western Xia continued to inflict defeats on the Song and an attack on the Liao dynasty remained unthinkable. This was caused by continually low army quality, poor logistics, and overall poor leadership. The Baojia system, for example, did not produce troops capable enough to replace
3102-613: The restoration of the equal-field system (a system of land redistribution instated by the Northern Wei and used through the Tang dynasty ), but Wang Anshi dismissed the idea as impractical. Shenzong's fascination with the revenue-generating potential of interest prompted him to invest heavily in a new price control policy, despite complaints from merchants and consumers about governmental harassment. Shenzong and Wang Anshi also pursued direct military reforms. In theory, each commandery
3168-638: The situation, take control of the economy, monopolize it, and use it to advance their unlimited greed. Under such a situation, Wang considered any claim that the emperor had control of the people to be just words. Wang Anshi was promoted to vice counselor in 1069. He introduced and promulgated a series of reforms, collectively known as the New Policies/New Laws. The reforms had three main components: 1) state finance and trade, 2) defense and social order, and 3) education and improving of governance. The equal tax law ( junshuifa ), also known as
3234-403: The square field law ( fangtianfa ) was a land registration project meant to reveal hidden land (untaxed land). Fields were divided into squares 1,000 paces in length on each side. The corners of the fields were marked by earth piles or trees. In the autumn, an official was dispatched to supervise the surveying of the land and to place the soil quality in one of five categories. This information
3300-410: The state to [warrant] enjoying such a good salary? According to Wang, "good organization of finance was the duty of the government, and the organization of finance was nothing else than to fulfill public duties." American historian Mary Nourse describes the philosophy of Wang's government that, "The state should take the entire management of commerce, industry, and agriculture into its own hands, with
3366-570: The summer and winter. Public officials abused the system by forcing loans on the peasants or extracting more than 2 percent interest. The hydraulic works law ( shuilifa ) was meant to improve local organization of irrigation works. Instead of using corvée labor, each circuit was supposed to appoint officials to loan money to the people using the local treasury, so that they could hire laborers. The government also encouraged planting mulberry trees to increase silk production. The labor recruitment law ( muyifa ) aimed at replacing corvée labor as
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#17327659644603432-512: The throne in 1067, there was pressure on the Song dynasty to make economic reforms. The Song dynasty's rigorous civil service examinations rejuvenated humanist-oriented Confucian elite culture; in particular, the literati wanted to improve the material conditions of the people. Additionally, the humiliating loss against the Western Xia in the 1040s (as well as the unfavorable terms of the Treaty of Chanyuan ) created, according to Sogabe Shizuo,
3498-545: The throne. The new emperor faced declining taxes and an increasingly heavy burden of taxation on commoners due to the development of large estates , whose owners managed to evade paying their share of taxes. This led him to seek advice from Wang in 1069. Wang was first appointed vice counsellor ( can zhizheng shi ; 参知政事 ), a key position for general administration, and a year later was made chancellor ( zaixiang ; 宰相 ). The primary objectives of Wang Anshi's New Policies ( xinfa ) were to cut government expenditure and strengthen
3564-497: The use of local militias, and his government reforms expanded the education system and attempted to suppress nepotism in government. Although successful for a while, he eventually fell out of favor with the emperor. Wang Anshi was born on 8 December 1021, to a family of jinshi degree holders in Linchuan ( Fuzhou , Jiangxi province). He placed fourth in the palace exam and obtained a jinshi degree in 1042. He began his career in
3630-606: Was 500 troops strong, but in actuality, the number was much lower and contained many old or weak soldiers due to corruption. Shenzong cut down the number of excess troops so that the entire army was less than 900,000 strong and established the Area Generalship System to improve communications, discipline, and troop levy efficiency. Meanwhile, the Baojia system was introduced as a village defense system intended to bolster domestic security and provide further support to
3696-416: Was a core function of the government or that it was in their best interests to help those dependent on the rich. He saw that as the breakdown of social order which would cause the eventual downfall of the state. Sima did not even like the imperial examinations and argued that only candidates recommended by court officials should be able to sit the examinations. Essentially, Sima Guang believed that government
3762-456: Was his attempt to weaken the Tangut -led Western Xia state by invading and expelling the Western Xia forces from Qing prefecture (庆州, today Qingyang , Gansu Province ). The Song army was initially quite successful in these campaigns, but during the battle for the city of Yongle (永乐城), in 1082, Song forces were defeated. As a result, Western Xia grew more powerful and subsequently continued to be
3828-651: Was later ranked number seven among the Eight Great Prose Masters of the Tang and Song ( 唐宋八大家 ). He was an adherent of the Classical Prose Movement championed by Han Yu and Liu Zongyuan , first and second of the Eight Masters of the Tang and Song respectively. His poetry often included social themes along with the traditional observations of nature. Chinese politicians and historians have continued to look back on
3894-438: Was not concerned about deficits and promised the emperor that revenues would be adequate even without increasing taxes. Sima did not agree and did not believe that the economy could grow faster than the population. Wang was also in favor of more aggressive foreign policy such as recovering territory and assimilating people to the northwest while Sima preferred a more balanced foreign policy. Sima did not believe that managing wealth
3960-518: Was one of the most important goals. Included in the category of jianbing were owners of large estates, rural usurers, large urban businessmen, and speculators responsible for instability in the urban market. All of them had ties to bureaucrats and had representatives in the government. Today in every prefecture and subprefecture, there are jianbing [engrossing] families that annually collect interest amounting to several myriad strings of cash without doing anything... What contribution have they made to
4026-614: Was sent to Kaifeng as assistant in the herd office ( qunmusi panguan ) and then prefect ( zhizhou ) of Changzhou, commissioner for judificial affairs ( tidian xingyu gongshi ) in Jiangnan East, assistant in the Financial Commission ( sansi duzhi panguan ), and finally editor of imperial edicts ( zhi zhigao ). Wang's mother died and he observed a mourning period from 1063 to 1066. In 1067, he became governor of Jiangning ( Nanjing ). During his time in
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#17327659644604092-465: Was succeeded by his son, Zhao Xu who took the throne as Emperor Zhezong . Emperor Zhezong was underage and so Shenzong’s mother Empress Gao ruled as regent until her death. A political struggled ensued following Shenzong’s death. The Emperss Dowager’s conservative faction (which included Sima Guang, Lü Gongzhu, the famous poet Su Shi , and the co-founder of Neo-confucianism , Cheng Hao ) defeated Cai Jue’s faction. The conservatives went on to repeal
4158-462: Was the domain of the pre-existing elite and only the elite. He argued that the empire would be better off if rich families kept more of their wealth. "If (wealth) is in the hands of the state then it is not in the hands of the people," Sima said in a debate with Wang before the emperor. Other officials argued that the baojia system would prevent local gentry from serving in their traditional roles as military commanders, raising private militias and serving
4224-474: Was the sixth emperor of the Song dynasty of China. His original personal name was Zhao Zhongzhen but he changed it to "Zhao Xu" after he acceded to the throne. He reigned from 1067 until his death in 1085 and is best known for supporting Wang Anshi's New Policies . He was a particularly active monarch concerned with solving the fiscal, bureaucratic, and military problems of the Song dynasty, but his reign remains controversial. Emperor Shenzong disagreed with
4290-402: Was to be led by a headman. Initially each household with more than two male adults had to provide one security guard, but this unrealistic expectation was decreased to one per five households later on. The security groups exercised police powers, organized night watches, and trained in martial arts when no agricultural work was required. Essentially it was a local militia with the main effect being
4356-427: Was written in a ledger declared legally binding for the purposes of sale and purchase, and the taxation value assessed appropriately. The law was highly unpopular with land owners, who complained that it restricted their freedom of distribution and other purposes (avoiding tax). Although the square field system was only implemented around the region of Kaifeng , the land surveyed made up 54 percent of known arable land in
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