制度视角下科举考试的“刚”与“柔”——以张謇的乡试会试为例

On the“Rigidity”and“Flexible”of the Imperial Examination from the Institutional Perspective--A Case Study of Zhang Jian’s Provincial and Imperial Examinations

科举制度作为传统中国尤其是明清两代选拔人才的主要方式,是传统中国少有的公平正义场所,尤其是考试过程中采用的“糊名誊录”制,有效地阻击了阅卷过程中的人情因素,为底层寒门学子的阶层流动保留了一定的渠道。但作为一个技术制度,在整个专制大环境下,它依然存在着制度性缺陷。张謇的状元之路既证明了科举考试中刚性的一面,也证明了科举制度所存在着的无法克服的先天性局限,成为了一个难得的研究科举制度“刚”与“柔”的全样本。

The imperial examination system,as the main way of selecting talents in traditional China,especially in the Ming and Qing dynasties,was a rare place of fairness and justice in ancient China.The system of“transcription with the names covered”has effectively avoided the human factors in the marking process and reserved a certain channel for the class flow of the low-class students.But as a technical system,it still has the system blemish under the whole autocratic environment.Zhang Jian’s road to the top not only proved the rigidity of the imperial examination system,but also proved the inherent limitations of it,which became a rare case of the“rigid”and“flexible”of imperial examination system.