晚清科举改革之废八股及其意义

The Abolishment of the Stereotyped Writing in the Late Qing Dynasty and Its Significance

八股取士的科举程式沿用至晚清已近500年,八股文作为科举考试的专用文体,其种种弊端暴露无遗,已经成为科举取士乃至整个国家培养、选拔人才的严重桎梏。鸦片战争后,以龚自珍为首的开明之士前仆后继撰文著说,呼吁废八股、改科举。然数十年疾呼不如甲午一役之败,八股取士无所取。康、梁公车上书言变法,废八股几成天下共识。戊戌维新,八股得废,虽后因变法失败八股仍旧,但终究是潮流所向,1903年八股见废,1905年千年科举停罢。一场数十年的废八股思潮最终实现其主张,开启了新教育的大门。

Up to the late Qing Dynasty, the stereotyped writing lasts nearly 500 years. As the special style of imperial examination, its disadvantages have become completely unmasked and become the serious shackles of imperial examinations and even national selection of talents. After the Opium War, led by Gong Zizhen, the enlightened men fight one after another for abolishing the stereotyped writing and reform imperial examination. However, decades of outcry is less than the defeat of Jia Wu War, and stereotyped writing serves nothing. After Gongche Shangshu movement led by Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao and Wu Xu reform, stereotyped writing is abolished in 1903. In 1905, imperial examination is abolished as well and a door for new education is opened.