Most of the comments on Wang Anshi in history were based on his contribution and mistakes on the Xifeng Political Reform, which neglected the background of his Confucian study history as a pointcut. It is also important to provide objectively correct comments on Wang Anshi’s New Meanings on Three Classics, meanwhile discussing his unique method on Confucian study. The purpose of New Meanings on Three Classics was to provide a theoretical foundation for his political reform and to realize his political idea of “Consolidated moral criterion”.New Meanings on Three Classics was taken as a new standard for the imperial examination, which broke away from the traditional scholastic interpretation from the Han to the Tang Dynasty, taking argumentation study as substitution. In fact, Wang Anshi’s endeavor was the keypoint for the prosperoness of argumentation study in the Song Dynasty. In addition, Wang Anshi reformed the imperial examination, he upgraded Mencius as Confucian classic in national law, who built the foundation of the argumentation development of Confucian study throughout the Song Dynasty.

Wang Anshi; New Meanings on Three Classics; Xifeng Political Reform; Confucian study in the Song Dynasty; imperial examination reform