Wang An-shi, a reformer in North Song, tried to educate and select human resources who are well versed in practical affairs by unifying the national examination system and school education. In 1071, he promulgated the enforcement decree of the new national examination system, abolishing the subject of writing poetry and designating Confucius' Analects and Mencius as mandatory subjects among the Confucian classics. He excluded the Spring and Autumn Annals compiled by Confucius from the national examination subjects and abolished the post of a the Royal Academician who taught Spring and Autumn Annals at National school.
He excluded the Spring and Autumn Annals from the exam subjects not because he did not respect Confucius, but because he did not trust three Commentaries of the Spring and Autumn Annals. The total number of characters in these three commentaries reached 282,000 characters, making it difficult for students to memorize all of them, and there was a lot of controversy over interpretation, making it difficult to present questions and answers for the national exam.
This paper analyzed the background and cause of the bizarre phenomenon in which the Royal Academician who taught Spring and Autumn Annals was installed and abolished several times during the mid-to-late period of North Song Dynasty.