Wang An-shih (wäng än-shûr), 1021–86, Chinese Sung dynasty statesman. As a chief councilor (1069–74, 1075–76) he directed sweeping administrative and fiscal reforms that drew strong conservative opposition. His aim was to strengthen the central government, but the poor also benefited from reforms such as the graduated land tax, cheap government credit, and reduction of the forced labor levy. Wang revived government price and commodity controls, local police administration, and the militia system. Followers of Wang competed with conservative bureaucratic opponents for high office after his resignation.

Wang Anshi

or Wang An-shih

(born 1021, Linchuan, Jiangsu province, China—died 1086, Jiangning, Jiangsu) Chinese poet and government reformer of the Song dynasty. His “New Policies” of 1069–76 sparked academic controversy that continued for centuries. He created a fund for agricultural loans to farmers to spare them the exorbitant demands of moneylenders; he also replaced corvée labour with a hired-service system financed by a graduated tax levied on all families. He enabled officials to purchase supplies at the cheapest price in the most convenient market. He established a village militia system (see baojia), reorganized the Hanlin Academy, and restructured the civil service examinations. Wang's reforms were unpopular, and he was forced to resign in 1074. He returned to government in 1075, but with less political power. After the emperor's death an antireform clique came to power and dismantled Wang's reforms by the time of his death shortly afterward. See also Fan Zhongyen.