Wang Anshi: References & Edit History

H.R. Williamson, Wang An Shih, 2 vol. (1935–37, reprinted 1973), still the only comprehensive biography in a Western language, is surpassed in sophisticated analysis of Wang’s political career by James T.C. Liu (Liu Zijian), Reform in Sung China: Wang An-shih (1021–1086) and His New Policies (1959). John Meskill (ed.), Wang An-shih, Practical Reformer? (1953, reissued 1963), is a textbook that draws together various interpretations of Wang. Paul J. Smith, Taxing Heaven’s Storehouse: Horses, Bureaucrats, and the Destruction of the Sichuan Tea Industry, 1074–1224 (1991), provides a close analysis of one facet of Wang’s economic policies and reform in action; Peter K. Bol, “This Culture of Ours”: Intellectual Transitions in T’ang and Sung China (1992), focuses in part on Wang and his place in Song intellectual currents.