Ye Shi

Ye Shi (1150–1223), courtesy name Zhengze, pseudonym Mr. Shuixin, was a Chinese neo-Confucian of the Song dynasty. A native of Wenzhou, Zhejiang, he was the most famous figure of the Yongjia School, a neo-Confucianism school composed mostly of philosophers from the Wenzhou Prefecture in Zhejiang province. In contrast to other scholars in the same period like Zhu Xi and Lu Jiuyuan, he stressed practical learning and applying Confucian doctrine to real world problems. This school had important influence on later thinkers from Zhejiang province, including Wang Shouren and Huang Zongxi, who were the most important philosophers in the Ming and Qing periods. Ye Shi wrote numerous articles and extensive discussions on topics such as finances, government organization, and the military. His approach towards tackling issues of the state caused puzzlement among Southern Song government officials. Ye Shi criticized the expansion of fiscal apparatus by the Song dynasty and advocated for fiscal conservatism deeming the expansion as morally bankrupt "exploitation" and "money grubbing". However, many Confucian moralists were sanguine regarding to this topic. He also defended Wang Anshi's stance that the New Policies falls on "li cai" (the proper managing of government finances) even though he argued that the actual policies crossed the line into "yan li" (accumulating material gain). He served as Director of Studies in the Directorate of Education during the reign of the Southern Song dynasty. During the reign of Emperor Ningzong, he was labeled as a "factionalist" and part of the "heretic scholar faction". Due to this, he lost his office in government.