Wang Dan (Song dynasty)
Wang Dan | |
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| 王旦 | |
Illustration by Kong Lianqing, from the 1850 book Gu Sheng Xian Xiang Zhuan Lüe | |
| Grand councilor of the Song dynasty | |
| In office March 27, 1006 – August 15, 1017 | |
| Monarch | Emperor Zhenzong |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 957 or January 958 Unknown, Later Zhou |
| Died | October 6, 1017 (aged 59–60) Kaifeng, Song dynasty |
| Spouse | Lady Zhao (趙) |
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| Parents |
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| Posthumous name | Wenzheng (文正) |
| Wang Dan | |||||||||
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| Chinese | 王旦 | ||||||||
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| Wang Ziming | |||||||||
| Chinese | 王子明 | ||||||||
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Wang Dan (c. 957 – 6 October 1017), courtesy name Ziming, was a major politician in the Song dynasty, serving as the grand councilor from 1006 until shortly before his death in 1017. Well trusted by Emperor Zhenzong, Wang Dan was given plenipotentiary authority over some matters after 1008.
Wang Dan is generally remembered as a faithful and virtuous official, mainly because he kept a low profile, recruited talented men to the bureaucracy while blocking his notoriously unscrupulous colleague Wang Qinruo from advancing for most of his tenure. But Wang Dan also flattered and encouraged Emperor Zhenzong's excessive and ridiculous Taoist pursuits, for which he expressed regret on his deathbed.