Born during the reign of Cheng Di, at time when the collating and editing of the pre-Qin classics was more or less complete, Wang was well-read and thoroughly steeped in the Confucian tradition. As an idealistic and ambitious statesman he wanted to solve the problems of society, drawing on ancient teachings to shape a new system.
王莽是個充滿理想的野心政治家，出生在先秦經典大致整理完成的漢成帝時代，儒生出身的他讀了一堆古書，面對社會弊病，設法托古改制。