痛打“时文鬼”——科举废止百年后的省思

Beat the ‘Demons of the Eight-legged Essays: ”Reflection on the Abolishment of Imperial Examination System after One Hundred Years

晚清以来,科举制常常被狭义地理解为八股取士之类的考试制度,受到了改革派人士的激烈批评和妖魔化处理。其实,科举制的内涵极为丰富,在官僚选拔、人才流动、分层配置、地方公义等方面起着重要作用。科举制的考试内容,也绝不是仅仅通过八股文来测试考生对古典知识的掌握情况,而是还通过"策问"等形式考察士人处理实际问题的能力。科举制的废除,导致传统社会由"学"选"官"路径的终结,士绅社会由此消亡,人才流动及其合理配置机制遭到摧毁,中国式的"代议"现象也在乡村中消失殆尽。

Since the late Qing Dynasty, the Imperial Examination System has always been narrowly regarded as an examination system distinguished by the Eight-legged essay. Therefore, the Imperial Examination System was fiercely criticized and demonized. In fact, there was a rich content to the Imperial Examination System, such as official selection, mobility for talented individuals, optimized allocation of personnel, local justice, and so on. The content of the examination, not only tested the scholars＇ familiarity with classical knowledge, but policy questions also dealt with the actual business of governing. The abolishment of the Imperial Examination System resulted in the end of official selection based on education, the destruction of optimized allocation of personnel, as well as the disappearance of gentry society and the Chinese style system of representation.