王安石的一生行迹（1021-1086）
王安石（1021-1086），字介甫，号半山，抚州临川（今江西抚州）人，北宋政治家、文学家、思想家。庆历二年进士，神宗朝两度拜相，推行新法，史称"王安石变法"。散文峭拔简劲，列唐宋八大家，诗晚年精绝，世称"王荆公体"。
临川（1021） · 临川少年
宋真宗天禧五年（1021年）十一月，王安石出生于临江军（今江西樟树临江镇），时其父王益任临江军判官，祖籍抚州临川（今江西抚州临川区）。他自幼随父宦游，见闻民间疾苦，少时即立下"矫世变俗"的宏大志向，好学不倦，博览经史。
鄞县（1047） · 地方历练
宋仁宗庆历七年（1047年），王安石调知鄞县（今浙江宁波）。在鄞县三年，他修筑堤堰、疏浚陂塘，推行"常平仓"借贷法——官府以低息贷谷于民，秋后偿还——此法即为后来"青苗法"之雏形，政绩卓著，民立祠祀之。
常州（1057） · 地方历练
宋仁宗嘉祐二年（1057年），王安石知常州，次年移提点江南东路刑狱。在地方官任上十余年，他积累了丰富的执政经验，深知天下积贫积弱之弊非变法无以救之，嘉祐三年（1058年）上《言事书》万言于仁宗，系统阐述改革主张。
开封（1069） · 开封变法
宋神宗熙宁二年（1069年），王安石拜参知政事，设制置三司条例司，推出青苗法、农田水利法、方田均税法、保甲法、免役法、市易法、均输法等一系列新法，史称"熙宁变法"或"王安石变法"，意图富国强兵，扭转北宋积贫积弱之局。
开封（1074） · 开封变法
宋神宗熙宁七年（1074年），因天下大旱、郑侠进《流民图》以及新党内部吕惠卿等人倾轧，王安石首次罢相，出知江宁府。次年复相，但新党分裂加剧，爱子王雱病逝，精神遭受沉重打击，熙宁九年再次辞相，从此退出政坛。
江宁（1076） · 江宁半山
宋神宗熙宁九年（1076年），王安石二次罢相后退居江宁（今江苏南京），在钟山（紫金山）半山腰筑"半山园"，自号"半山居士"。他从此绝口不言政事，寄情山水诗酒，诗风一变而为精绝含蓄，世称"王荆公体"。
钟山（1084） · 钟山归隐
宋神宗元丰七年（1084年），王安石退居钟山已八年，与苏轼有过一次著名的钟山之会。苏轼自黄州移汝州，绕道江宁拜访王安石，昔日政敌相见甚欢，联句唱和，王安石叹"不知更几百年，方有如此人物"，传为文坛佳话。
江宁（1086） · 钟山归隐
宋哲宗元祐元年（1086年），保守派司马光全面废新法，远在江宁的王安石闻讯惊愕悲痛，每闻废一法，辄叹"亦罢至此乎"。同年四月六日，王安石病逝江宁半山园，享年六十五岁。哲宗赠太傅，谥"文"，后追封荆国公。
The Life Journey of Wang Anshi, the Reformer on Halfway Hill
Wang Anshi (1021-1086), styled Jiefu, the 'Master of Halfway Hill,' of Linchuan, was the Song's great interventionist: from a county experiment lending grain to the farmers of Yin — the seed of the Green Sprouts law — to the Xining reforms of 1069, an attempt to re-order an empire's economics in a decade. Twice dismissed, he retired to Zhongshan and remade himself as a poet of compressed precision: 'Spring wind turns the south bank green again.' One of the Eight Great Masters of Tang-Song prose.
Timeline of the Journey
- 1021 · Linjiang — Born where his father was serving, roots in Linchuan; a childhood carried from post to post, the people's hardships watched from the carriage, the vow 'to correct the age' formed early.
- 1047 · Yinxian — Magistrate of Yin: dikes and ponds repaired, the state lending grain at low interest for repayment after harvest — the working model of the later Green Sprouts law. The people built him a shrine.
- 1057 · Changzhou — A dozen years of provincial service — Changzhou, then judicial intendant of Jiangdong — ending in the ten-thousand-character memorial to Renzong: the complete reform program, filed and shelved.
- 1069 · Kaifeng — Vice grand councilor under Shenzong; the Commission of Regulations; Green Sprouts, water-works, land-tax, militia, service-exchange — the Xining reforms launched to make the Song rich and strong.
- 1074 · Kaifeng — Drought, Zheng Xia's 'Picture of Refugees,' betrayal inside his own party: first dismissal. Recalled within a year — but his son dead, the party split — he resigned again in 1076 and left politics forever.
- 1076 · Jiangning — The Halfway Garden on Zhongshan's slope: no more statecraft, mountains and poetry instead — the late style, compressed and gleaming, that later ages called the 'Duke of Jing manner.'
- 1084 · Zhongshan — Su Shi, transferred out of Huangzhou, detoured to call: the two old enemies reciting verse together for days. Wang's sigh: 'It will be centuries before such another appears.'
- 1086 · Jiangning — Sima Guang abolishing the new laws one by one; each report drew the same murmur — 'Even that one too?' — and in the fourth month Wang Anshi died at sixty-five, Duke of Jing, canonized 'Wen.'
'Spring wind greens the south bank again.' The reform failed; the sentence survived — Wang Anshi moved the empire for ten years and the language forever.
