From an article at the BBC about a reforming Chinese civil servant in the 11th century:
The Chinese economy was far more commercialised than it had ever been before, says Peter Bol of Harvard University, who has written about this period.
"The money supply has increased 30-fold. The merchant networks have spread. Villages are moving away from self-sufficiency and getting connected to a cash economy. The government no longer controls the economic hierarchy, which is largely in private hands... it's a far richer world than ever before."
But all this created problems. As large land-owning estates grew, so did the number of people who were unwilling to pay their taxes - and the more rich people evaded tax, the more the burden fell on the poor...
The civil service has a way of doing things, and in the 11th Century Wang Anshi was turning it upside down, asking the mandarins to roll up their sleeves and manage every corner of the economy. He wanted state loans for farmers, more taxes for landowners, centralised procurement.
But he was not watching his back. He was too sure of himself and too focused on the big picture.
