On Wang Mang's Political Ideal

Wang Mang was a confucianised nobleman, one of those small number of politicians who had political ideas in Chinese history. His political was to build an ideal country, the kings would standardize their behavior with Confucian theory, and standardize the order with the description in <> in order to realize the unity of society, and finally achieve the realm of "sacred inside and monarch outside" . Wang Mang came into touch with the center of power as a relative of the royal family, and knew the social evils in Xihan very well. He thought that it was impossible to realize his ideal in such a society, so he replaced the Han Dynasty and set himself as the king, and then carried out reforms, and utilized the national machine to pursue his ideal, Wang Mang' s reform was mainly in economy, such as practicing the system of Jingtian again, carrying out the reform of currency. On another hand, he also changed a lot of names of places and government officials. He extended the thought of unity into national relationship. The measures that Wang Mang adopted were the copy which was described in Confucian articles. His reform was a back-to-the-ancients one. Many different elements caused his failure in reform and political idea. But there is no doubt that Wang Mang' s political idea is a practice of Confucian theory of "sacred inside and monarch outside". He was a performer who carried out Confucian theory into practical politic.