Wang Anshi, the renowned Northern Song Dynasty writer and statesman, once submitted a ten-thousand-word memorial to Emperor Renzong, urging reforms in laws, administrative training, and fiscal policy—but his proposals were ignored.
It was not until the young, ambitious Emperor Shenzong of the Song Dynasty ascended the throne at just twenty, brimming with vigor and determined to reform the empire's weakness, that Wang Anshi finally had his chance. In 1069, Wang Anshi was appointed Vice Chancellor and launched his sweeping reforms.
He drafted the Equal Tax Law, the Green Sprouts Law, the Farmland and Water Conservancy Law, the Baojia Militia System, and the Horse-Raising Law, which turned the economy around and strengthened the nation's military power. However, these reforms infringed on the privileges of wealthy landowners and high-ranking officials, sparking their intense resentment.
Among the most vehement opponents was Right Remonstrance Advisor Sima Guang, who had been a close friend of Wang Anshi but became his political rival due to differing views. Sima Guang repeatedly wrote to Wang Anshi, urging him to abolish the new policies and restore the old system, accusing the reforms of "creating trouble and disturbing the people."
In his reply, Wang Anshi refuted Sima Guang's views tit-for-tat, arguing that implementing the New Laws was "promoting benefits and eliminating abuses, not creating trouble," meaning that doing good for the people and removing bad governance cannot be called "stirring up trouble and disturbing the people."
But Sima Guang remained unconvinced. Along with other ministers opposing the New Policies, he continued to attack Wang Anshi. In the summer of 1074, Wang Anshi decided to resign. Emperor Shenzong of Song appointed him as the prefect of Jiangning—in effect, a chance to rest and recover.
In March 1085, Emperor Shenzong of the Song Dynasty died of illness at the age of thirty-eight. His successor, Zhao Xu, was not yet ten years old, so Shenzong's mother, Grand Empress Dowager Gao, took over the government. A staunch opponent of the New Policies, she appointed Sima Guang as chancellor shortly after assuming regency.
As soon as Sima Guang took power, he announced the abolition of all the New Laws. When the news reached Jiangning, Wang Anshi could not sleep at night, fell ill from grief, and finally passed away in April 1086.
Later, people began using the idiom "Promote the Beneficial and Abolish the Harmful" to refer to initiating beneficial endeavors while eliminating harmful ones.
Source: Wang Anshi (Song Dynasty), *Reply to Sima Guang's Advisory Letter*
Meaning of the Idiom: Later, the Chinese idiom "兴利除弊" came to describe initiating beneficial endeavors while eliminating harmful ones.