Qingli reforms in Song China

1043

Fan Zhongyan, a leading Song official, launched a reform program addressing corruption and military weakness. Though the reforms were shelved within two years, they set precedents for Wang Anshi's later more radical program. Fan's writings on the ideal official shaped Confucian political thought for the next several centuries. His famous declaration that a scholar should be first to worry about the world's troubles became a moral touchstone for Chinese intellectuals.