社会流动论争与“富民社会”视阈下的科举制

Debate on Social Mobility and Imperial Examination from the Perspective of“Fumin Society”(Society of the Wealthy)

隋唐至清末实行的科举制度,在打破社会分层,促进社会流动方面发挥了重要作用。大量的资料和数据表明,在7~20世纪初的“科举社会”中,社会流动始终维持着一定的速率。在对科举制与社会流动的研究中,“流动派”与“非流动派”各执一端,研究者在史料与数据上面临着历史解释的困境。从“富民社会”的视角来看,“科举社会”的实质是“富民社会”,“科举社会”是“富民社会”内涵及特征的体现。科举是“富民社会”的一种选官制度,也是“富民社会”下社会流动的产物和标志。科举制下以“富民”为主体的社会流动具有整体的社会意义,也是考察科举制与社会流动问题的关键。

The imperial examination system that started in the Sui and Tang dynasties and lasted all the way till the late Qing Dynasty played an important role in breaking social stratification and promoting social mobility in ancient China.There are enough literature and data to show that between the 7th and 20th centuries when imperial examinations were held,Chinese society remained quite mobile.Scholars are highly divided in their opinions about the correlation between the examination system and social mobility.Some think it helps to promote mobility,while others think otherwise.Facing the colossal amount of documents and data,scholars find themselves in a dilemma as to how to interpret them historically.From a perspective of the so-called“fumin society”theory,a society grounded on this imperial examination system is essentially a society of the wealthy,for it embodies all the connotations and features of such a society.Imperial examination is a way of selecting officials in a fumin society as well as a product and an indicator of the social mobility in such a society.The social mobility of the“fumin”(the wealthy)under the imperial examination system has an import to the whole society and should be understood as a clue for understanding issues related to the system itself and the social mobility that came with it.