科举制“投牒自举”之法溯源

Tracing the Origin of the Practice of “Self-Recommendation by Submitting Papers”(Toudie Ziju)in the Imperial Examination System

南北朝渐趋流行的异地察举和求举觅举之风为投牒自举提供了基础,而北朝地方官学生徒课试举贡之制则推动了投牒自举之法形成。在地方官学生源较为开放的传统和北朝后期游学大盛的局面下,北齐规定游学之士可与州郡学师生一并推择充举,确立了秀、孝应举就试的开放性,至此,投牒自举之法实非萌芽而已形成制度。隋唐常科贡士的相关规定和武周以来投牒自举者率多寄学应举的状态,即承此脉络而来。投牒自举的孕育形成和发展过程,与魏晋以来举贡基础拓展、科目内涵调整、考试制度完善等事态相互呼应,一起构成了察举制错综演进为科举制的连续场景。

In the Northern and Southern Dynasties,it was increasingly common for local officials to examine and recommend students from outside their areas for official services and for students to seek such recommendations.This trend provided the foundation for“self-recommendation by submitting papers”(toudie ziju).In the Northern Dynasties,government school students could be recommended even if they only sat for the examinations without attending the school,which facilitated the practice of self-recommendation by submitting papers.Against the background of the local government schools’tradition of openness and the prevalence of wandering scholars in the later Northern dynasties,the Northern Qi dynasty allowed such scholars to be tested and recommended in the same way as the teachers and students at local government schools,opening the examinations both to the learned and to persons noted for their filial piety.By this time,self-recommendation by submitting papers had become an institution.The Sui and Tang rules on regular examinations in each jurisdiction and the fact that from Wu Zetian’s reign on,most of those who followed this practice were wandering scholars developed out of this institution.The genesis and development of the self-recommendation by submitting papers system derived from Wei and Jin trends:the broadening of the basis of the imperial examination system,the review of examination subjects,and the perfection of the examination system.Together,they constitute an unbroken panorama of the way the system of examination and recommendation evolved into the imperial examination system.