王安石曾將神宗比擬為文王，要神宗以文王聖人的德政為理想治世目標；至於為人臣子的典範，王安石內心所嚮往的對象則是周公。從王安石的《詩經新義》中，可以看到，儘管王安石不常常提到「周公」一詞，但他所引證的史事，明顯可以知道就是周公的事蹟。或許王安石在心裡暗許自己可以像周公一樣，也能為北宋制禮作樂，再創造一個如同成周盛世一樣的美好政績。

Wang An-Shih asked Emperor Shen-Zong of the Sung Dynasty to take Emperor Wen of the Zhou Dynasty as his role model and to follow Emperor Wen’s policy of benevolence as a way to treat his people and rule his country. Besides, Wang An-Shih regarded Zhou-Gong of the Zhou Dynasty as liegemen’s role model in their political life. In his writing “The New Meanings of the Classic of Poetry”, Wang An-Shih seldom mentioned Zhou-Gong’s name, but he greatly admired Zhou-Gong for his outstanding achievements. In Wang An-Shih’s mind, he inspired himself to establish ritual and music systems for the Sung Dynasty just as Zhou-Gong did for the Zhou Dynasty.