科举与仕宦——上党苗氏家族的沉浮

The imperial examinations and the officialdom:The rise and fall of the Shangdang Miao family

北朝至隋这一时期,苗氏乃是上党的地方大族,苗氏成员大多担任诸如郡县中正、主簿、功曹、县令、县丞等地方官职,家族拥有较为良好的经济状况,通婚对象也是上党大姓,但总体上仍旧属于寂寂无闻的状态。唐朝初年,苗氏家族中的苗琎感知时代的变革,致力于教育子侄,投身科场,在开、天之际,以苗延嗣为首的苗氏成员凭借科举入仕,逐渐从上党地方走向了两京地区,苗氏家族开始了“中央化”和“官僚化”进程。经过苗延嗣、苗晋卿两代人的努力,苗氏家族迈上了一个新台阶,上党苗氏最终从一个地方家族变为“两京衣冠”之一。中晚唐时期,苗氏子弟多凭门荫或科举入仕,并世代与其他官僚家族联姻,苗氏地位得以维持,“中央化”和“官僚化”进程彻底完成。

During the period from the Northern Wei Dynasty to the Sui Dynasty,the Miao clan was a major local clan in Shangdang,with most of its members holding local official positions such as zhongzheng、zhubu、gongcao、county magistrates,and the family was in a relatively good financial position,intermarrying with large Shangdang surnames,but generally remaining anonymous.In the early Tang dynasty,Miao Jin,sensing the changes of the times,devoted himself to educating his sons and nephews and joined the imperial court,in the reign of Emperor Xuanzong,members of the Miao clan,led by Miao Yansi,gradually moved from the Shangdang locality to the two capital regions by virtue of the imperial examinations,and the Miao clan began the process of“centralisation”and“bureaucratisation”.Through the efforts of two generations of Miao Yansi and Miao Jinqing,the Miao family reached a new level,and the Shangdang Miao family eventually changed from a local family to one of the“two capital clans”.In the middle and late Tang dynasties,descendants of the Miao Clan entered the civil service by virtue of their family shade or the imperial examinations,and were married to other bureaucratic families for generations,thus maintaining the status of the Miao family and completing the process of“centralisation”and“bureaucratisation”.