“不科举之科举”——清末浙江优拔考及其制度性困境

An Keju (科举 Imperial Examination) in Disguise: Zhi Hengrong and the Zhejiang Youba (优拔 Selection of Excellence) Examination in the Late Qing Dynasty

清廷立停科举后,保留了优拔考试作为善后之策。按照设计,浙江在提学使支恒荣主持下,先后于丙午年(1906)举办了优贡考试、己酉年(1909)举行了优拔考试。这两科考试吸引了大量具有新式身份的考生参加,造成很多弊病,更引发科举复归的争议,遭致时人与时论的诸多批评。当时认为续行的优拔考试实际是“不科举之科举”,起到了强化时人的功名意识与科举崇拜的作用。因此,讨论废除科举制的社会效果与后续影响等问题,有必要从制度史与社会史结合的层面,将优拔考试等清廷采取的后续补救措施所起的作用考虑在内,并注意从历史记忆塑造的角度,结合其时与考优拔诸人的言行、学部和提学使的具体作为,来重新检视传媒、当事者及清亡后时人的后设反思,乃至后世研究者的研究于再现和重构清末科举停废一事中存在的差异与盲区。

The Qing court abolished the imperial examination system (科举) in 1905 but kept the youba (优拔) examination as a remedial measure. In in 1906 and 1909, two yougong (优贡) examinations were held in Zhejiang under the auspices of the tixueshi (official of educational affairs), Zhi Hengrong. The two examinations attracted a large number of “new-type” young men, the serious disadvantages of which sparked a great controversy, inviting the criticism of reviving the keju and other comments. In fact, the alternative youba was considered to be a keju in disguise;it reinforced the thirst for office and keju worship. So when discussing the social outcomes and subsequent effects of the abolition of the old examinations, it is therefore necessary for us to combine institutional and social history, taking into account the role of subsequent remedial measures including the youba examination. We should pay heed to the shaping of historical memory in conjunction with the words and acts of those who sat for the youba examination and the specific actions of the Xuebu (Ministry of Education) and the tixueshi, and reexamine the reflections of the new media, the parties involved, and their post-1911 contemporaries. We should even look at the differences and blind spots in later research on the reproduction and reconstruction of the abolition of the imperial examinations in the late Qing.