明代乡会试边事时务策考论

Policy Questions on Frontier Affairs in Provincial and Metropolitan Civil Service Examinations during the Ming Dynasty

明代乡试、会试策问例分经史、时务二体,边疆事务是时务策频繁考察的议题。以时间论,边事时务策出现于天顺年间,弘治、正德时期成为常态,至嘉靖年间特别是嘉靖后期臻于极盛。以内容论,会试的边事时务策题目具有专门化的趋势,与朝廷的边务决策相呼应,既用以问计于士林,亦有试探舆论、塑造共识之效;乡试的边事时务策则呈现明显的地域特征。围绕边事时务策的写作,边疆知识逐渐被整合入明代士人的科举知识体系中。举业读物中大量出现的边疆知识虽系辗转因袭,缺乏创见,但与明中后期层出不穷的边政书共同构成明人边疆书写的“文本库”,成为一般读书人边疆认知的起点与底色。

Policy questions in provincial and metropolitan civil service examinations were usually divided into classics and history as well as current affairs during the Ming dynasty,and frontier issues were main topics of the latter.From the perspective of the development stage,policy questions on frontier affairs appeared in Tianshun period,then was normalized in Hongzhi and Zhengde era,and finally reached its peak in late-Jiajing period.In the aspect of the content,there was a growing tendency of specialization of the topics of the policy questions on frontier affairs in metropolitan civil service examinations.The Ming court not only consulted with literati about frontier policy,but also acquired the public opinion extensively and reached a consensus on this matter.Comparatively,the policy questions on frontier affairs in provincial civil service examinations were closely related to local military affairs.The knowledge of the frontier area was gradually incorporated into the intellectual world based on imperial examination as the scholars were engaged in policy questions writing.Furthermore,the knowledge about the frontier area in examination readers and the frontier administrative gazettes constituted a textual storehouse,which became a basic reference and common background of writing and recognizing frontier for the Ming literati.