poor family, as did his supporters, for whom he quickly
secured posts. They represented the interests of the small landholders
and the small dealers. This group succeeded in gaining power, and in
carrying out a number of reforms, all directed against the monopolist
merchants. Credits for small peasants were introduced, and officials
were given bigger salaries, in order to make them independent and to
recruit officials who were not big landowners. The army was greatly
reduced, and in addition to the paid soldiery a national militia was
created. Special attention was paid to the province of Shensi, whose
conditions were taken more or less as a model.

It seems that one consequence of Wang's reforms was a strong fall in the
prices, i.e. a deflation; therefore, as soon as the first decrees were
issued, the large plantation owners and the merchants who were allied to
them, offered furious opposition. A group of officials and landlords who
still had large properties in the vicinity of Loyang--at that time a
quiet cultural centre--also joined them. Even some of Wang An-shih's
former adherents came out against him. After a few years the emperor was
no longer able to retain Wang An-shih and had to abandon the new policy.
How really economic interests were here at issue may be seen from the
fact that for many of the new decrees which were not directly concerned
with economic affairs, such, for instance, as the reform of the
examination system, Wang An-shih was strongly attacked though his
opponents had themselves advocated them in the past and had no practical
objection to offer to them. The contest, however, between the two groups
was not over. The monopolistic landowners and their merchants had the
upper hand from 1086 to 1102, but then the advocates of the policy
represented by Wang again came into power for a short time. They had but
little success to show, as they did not remain in power long enough and,
owing to the strong opposition, they were never able to make their
control really effective.

Basically, both groups were against allowing the developing middle class
and especially the merchants to gain too much freedom, and whatever
freedom they in fact gained, came through extra-legal or illegal
practices. A proverb of the time said "People hate their ruler as
animals hate the net (of the hunter)". The basic laws of medieval times
which had attempted to create stable social classes remained: down to
the nineteenth centu