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Wang Shuwen
Hanlin scholar and vice minister of revenue who steered the short-lived Yongzhen Reform of 805 and was forced to die in exile the next year.
Mural of the event “Yongzhen Reform”, which this person took part in.
In 805, under the ailing Emperor Shunzong, Wang Shuwen and Wang Pi directed the court, abolished the palace market and the Five Workshops' bird-catchers, and tried to take command of the Shence Army from the eunuchs. Shunzong abdicated in the eighth month, the reform ended and its leaders were demoted and sent away: the Two Wangs and Eight Adjutants.
Also known as Er Wang (paired with Wang Pi)
- Roles
- Finance Ministers
Wang Shuwen, from Shanyin in Yuezhou, served the crown prince Li Song as a court chess player and won his trust. When the prince took the throne as Emperor Shunzong in 805, Wang became a Hanlin scholar, deputy commissioner of finance and of salt and iron, and then vice minister of revenue. Working with Wang Pi inside the palace, installing Wei Zhiyi as chief minister and drawing in Liu Zongyuan, Liu Yuxi and Han Tai, he abolished the palace purchasing system, stopped irregular tribute and tried to take army command from the eunuchs: the Yongzhen Reform. Mourning for his mother took him out of office that summer, the eunuch Ju Wenzhen and his allies enthroned Emperor Xianzong, and Wang was demoted to Yuzhou and ordered to die in 806. He was the central figure of the reform.
Life and times
Dates Birth year unknown; died 806; led the Yongzhen Reform in 805