1,179
Views
14
CrossRef citations to date
0
Altmetric
Non-Theme Articles

Wang Anshi and the origins of modern public management in Song Dynasty China

Pages 353-360 | Published online: 01 Jul 2013
 

Abstract

Wang Anshi (1021–1086) is well known as one of the greatest statesmen of classical China, but it is rarely recognized that his 1058 ‘Wan Yan Shu’ is one of the first texts of public management in the modern sense. This is because Wang addressed still current concerns of a civil service—selection, training, motivation, remuneration—often presenting solutions that are completely in line with today's perspectives. Wang's work is particularly relevant now given the current global state of public management—post-NPM but with no clear new paradigm having emerged.

Acknowledgments

I am very grateful for the substantial contributions by Tiina Randma-Liiv, the discussions with Daniel A. Bell, Chung-Yuang Jan, Rainer Kattel, Andrew Massey, B. Guy Peters, Sor-Hoon Tan, and the research, language, and editorial support by Aziz Klebleyev, Ingbert Edenhofer, Yongqing Cong and Masako Kubota.

Notes

* For this essay, I have used as a basis Williamson's standard translation (1935), abbreviated ‘WYS’, but I have edited this text based on the facsimile of the original given by Franke in his appendix (1932). I have added the reference to the facsimile after Williamson's page number in cases of direct quotations. Franke uses the text from Wang's collected works originally published in 1883, which in turn is based on a text from 1560, and that again on one from 1140 (Franke, Citation1932, p. 15). The (silent) edition of Williamson was made, while also consulting Franke's nicely annotated translation (pp. 15–51), by Cong Yongqing with Aziz Klebleyev and myself.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Wolfgang Drechsler

Wolfgang Drechsler is Professor and Chair of Governance at the Ragnar Nurkse School of Innovation and Governance, Tallinn University of Technology, Estonia, and currently also Visiting Professor of Public Administration at the Central University of Finance and Economics, Beijing, China.

Log in via your institution

Log in to Taylor & Francis Online

PDF download + Online access

  • 48 hours access to article PDF & online version
  • Article PDF can be downloaded
  • Article PDF can be printed
USD 53.00 Add to cart

Issue Purchase

  • 30 days online access to complete issue
  • Article PDFs can be downloaded
  • Article PDFs can be printed
USD 435.00 Add to cart

* Local tax will be added as applicable

Related Research

People also read lists articles that other readers of this article have read.

Recommended articles lists articles that we recommend and is powered by our AI driven recommendation engine.

Cited by lists all citing articles based on Crossref citations.
Articles with the Crossref icon will open in a new tab.