北朝挽郎选拔与士族激励机制新论

On the selection of the Wan Lang and the formation of aristocratic incentive mecha nism in the Northern Dynasty

汉晋帝后丧葬,例选显宦名族子弟为大行灵柩挽绋,通过仪式展演昭示君臣同心同德的和谐局面。降至北朝,挽郎在礼仪角色基础上逐渐派生出仕宦资格及仕进途径的政治功能,在九品官人法之外另辟新的入仕门路。遵循贵族社会阀阅流品法则,选拔挽郎注定要与家世门第紧密捆绑,但其宗旨并非单纯巩固门荫制度,而是在既定的门阀秩序和利益分配格局中适度引入竞争激励机制,在仕进方面给予种种优惠,诸如放宽入仕的年龄限制、突破世资局限的破格超迁任用等,以鼓励士族精英奋发进取,杜绝贵族主义安富尊荣、鄙薄实务之积弊。在此背景下,学识素养及由此产生的社会声望成为挽郎出身的关键,这在一定程度上改变了上流社会封闭固化的局面,事实上与秀孝察举和官学试经一道为后世科举制开启先声。尽管前进的步幅相当有限,但对改良中古贵族社会的积极意义是不容抹杀的。

After the funeral of emperor Jin of Han Dynasty, the children of famous officials were selected as the coffin mourning ceremony, and the ceremony performance showed the harmonious situation of one heart and one mind between monarchs and officials. Down to the Northern Dynasty, Wan Lang gradually derived from the political function of official qualification and official way based on his ceremonial role, and a new way was opened to enter the official world in addition to the ninth-grade-ranking official law. Abiding by the selecting rules of identity hierarchy in the aristocratic society, the selection of Wan Lang is bound to be closely tied to their family backgrounds. However, its purpose is not merely to consolidate the family rank system, but to moderately introduce the competitive convection mechanism into the established family rank and benefit distribution pattern, and give various concessions in terms of official advancement, such as relaxing the age limit for entering the official position, breaking through the limitations of the family background, and making extraordinary super transfer appointments, so as to encourage the elite of the gentry to forge ahead and put an end to the accumulated disadvantages of aristocracy. In this context, academic quality and social prestige became the key to the birth of Wan Lang, which to a certain extent changed the closed and solidified situation of the upper class society. In fact, together with Xiuxiao imperial examination and official school trial, it opened a precedent for the imperial examination system of later generations.Although the pace of progress is quite limited, the positive significance of improving the medieval aristocratic society can not be erased.