Wang Anshi
Also called: Wang Jinggong
Northern Song chief minister and writer who, trusted by Emperor Shenzong, pursued wealth and military strength through the New Policies from 1069; one of the Eight Great Prose Masters of Tang and Song
A native of Linchuan in Fuzhou, Jiangxi, he passed the jinshi examination in 1042. During long service as a local official he experimented at Yin county with lending grain to farmers — the seed of the later green sprouts law. In 1058 he urged reform in his “Ten-Thousand-Word Memorial” to Emperor Renzong, and once chosen by Shenzong in 1069 he drove the New Policies forward. Fierce opposition forced him out in 1074; he returned the next year but retired for good in 1076 to Jiangning (Nanjing), and died in 1086 as Sima Guang was repealing his reforms. His spare, forceful prose places him among the Eight Great Prose Masters of Tang and Song.