北宋科场改革与律赋沉浮——以熙宁变法为中心

The Reform of Imperial Examination and the Vicissitudes of Metric Poems and Fu in the Context of the Revitalization of Confucianism in the Northern-Song Dynasty——Centering on the Reform in the Xining Period during the Reign of Emperor Shenzong

熙宁年间,宋廷颁布贡举新制,罢诗赋而以经义取士。这是儒学深入而持久地对社会各个层面渗透的结果。王安石等所倡新制的最终目的是废除科考,以学校教育选士,经义取士只是权宜之计而已,宋廷曾按此思路推行"八行取士"。科举是官方和士人的一种交易或者博弈,不管是诗赋抑或经义、策论,最终是要在科场上被工具化的,因此,这次科场改制注定难以达到关乎治道的初衷。古文创作在诗文革新运动背景下日趋繁荣,古文自由表达的优势被给予特别的关注,文学观念因此发生变化。罢诗赋取士折射出已经成为主流文学观念的儒家文道观对科场衡文标准的不满。经义取士后,针对它的钻营便开始了,使得科场变革的初衷大打折扣,因此元祐更化部分恢复了诗赋取士。

In the Xining （熙宁） Period during the reign of Emperor Shenzong （宋神宗 ） of the Song Dynasty, the government promulgated a new system of imperial examination, selecting talents by Confucian classics argumentation instead of poem and Fu writing. This was the result of the deep and constant penetration of Confucianism into every level of the society. The ultimate goal of the new system advocated by Wang Anshi （王安石） and others was to abolish imperial examination and to select talents through school education. To select talents through Confucian classics argumentation was nothing but a matter of expediency. Following this way of thinking, the Song government pushed forward the practice of selecting talents by ＂eight virtues＂ （八行取士）. Actually, imperial examination was just a transaction or a game-playing between the government and the scholars. Poem and Fu writing, Confucian classics argumentation, discussions on current affairs, or whatever it was, they would finally become tools in imperial examination. So this reform of the imperial examination system was doomed to fail to achieve the original intention of the governance. Ancient-style prose writing gradually flourished under the background of the renovation movement of prose and verse writing. People paid special attention to ancient-style prose writing for it was advantageous in free expression. As a result, the view of literature also changed greatly. The selection of talents by way of abandoning poem and Fu writing reflected the dissatisfaction with the standards of imperial examination on the part of the Confucians whose view of literature had become the mainstream. After Confucian classics argumentation was adopted in selecting talents, some people started to try to secure personal gains from it. This greatly distorted the original intention of the reform of imperial examination. For this reason , in the Yuanyou （元祐） Period during the reign of Emperor Zhezong （ 宋哲宗）, the government partially restored the system of selecting talents by poem and Fu writing.