SHEN TSUNG

born 1048, China died 1085, China Pinyin Shen Zong (temple name, or miao-hao), personal name (hsing-ming) Chao Hs sixth emperor (reigned 1067/681085/86) of the Sung dynasty of China, during whose reign some of the greatest intellectual and cultural figures of the era flourished, among them Ou-yang Hsiu and Su Tung-p'o. Under Shen Tsung, the radical reformer Wang An-shih carried out his economic and social program. Low-interest government loans to peasants were instituted, new land surveys were made to correct tax inequities, and government revenues were increased by a program of purchasing manufactured specialties in one region and selling them in another. To augment the military forces, Shen Tsung and Wang ordered the training of local militia groups in all villages. The government also procured horses and assigned them to peasant families in North China, in return for which each family selected one of its members to serve in the cavalry in times of emergency. Although Shen Tsung continued to implement the reforms, Wang himself created so much personal antagonism that he had to retire from office in 1076. The magnitude of the program and the ineptness of the bureaucracy prevented the program from achieving any great success. On Shen Tsung's death, the regents who ruled for his young son were dominated by conservative officials who revoked all the reforms. When the new emperor came of age, the reforms were restored, but the struggle between the two factions continued for several generations, not only denying Shen Tsung's reforms the chance to take effect but nullifying any good that might have been accomplished by the programs of either side.