清代翻译科缘起考——顺治八年还是雍正元年

A Textual Research on the Rise of the Imperial Examination System on Translation in the Qing Dynasty:The Eighth Year of Emperor Shunzhi’s Reign or the First Year of Emperor Yongzheng’s Period

翻译科是清代特设之科目,及八旗科举制度之独特构成,它创设于雍正元年,而非顺治八年。顺治八年,礼部遵圣谕办理首科八旗科举考试,对应试者分别考试清字文章与翻译,为翻译科的创设提供了制度雏形。然而,此时的翻译考试虽在内容上与翻译科相似,性质和意义上却与后者颇为不同,它既未独立成科,又缺乏独立、自主的制度设计。《清史稿》《雍正会典》及两部《会典事例》(嘉庆、光绪)中,均将顺治八年视作翻译科之缘起,明显属于误记,其说法不仅见岐于《清实录·世祖章皇帝实录》,而且与《八旗通志》《钦定国子监志》等也有较大出入。翻译科的创设有着丰富的政治文化意涵,其根本目的在于维护“国语骑射”的满洲旧制。

The Imperial Examination System on Translation was a unique subject and component of the Eight-Banners Imperial Examination System in the Qing Dynasty, which was created in the first year of Emperor Yongzheng’s period, rather than in the eighth year of Emperor Shunzhi’s period. In the eighth year of the Emperor Shunzhi’s period, the Ministry of Rites carried out for the first time the Eight-Banners Imperial Examination under the sacred decree of the Emperor, and its examinees took either the writing of a composition in the Manchu language or the translation test. However, although the translation test at this time resembled the Imperial Examination System on Translation in content, it clearly differed from the latter both in nature and meaning, since it was not an independent policy of examination with lack of self-conceited mechanism design. In The Manuscript of the Qing Dynasty, The Code of the Great Qing Dynasty(Emperor Yongzheng), and The Regius Compilation of State Regulations in the Qing Dynasty(Emperors Jiaqing and Guangxu), the eighth year of the Emperor Shunzhi was regarded as the budding time of the Imperial Examination System on Translation, which was obviously a mis-recording and went against the concerned recordings in other books like The Qing Dynasty Memoirs(Chronicles of Shizu, Qing Emperor), The General Records of the Eight Banners and Records of the Imperial College. The creation of the Imperial Examination System on Translation was rich in political and cultural connotations, but its essential purpose was to maintain the tradition of “the Manchu Language and Riding-Shooting” program.