范仲淹與慶曆科舉改革

Fan Zhongyan and the Reform of the National Examination System (Keju) in the Qingli Reign-period

Abstract

LANGUAGE NOTE | Document text in Chinese; abstract also in English.

科舉改革是范仲淹慶曆新政的一項重要内容。早在天聖初年，范仲淹就多次上疏建議“慎選舉，敦教育”，改革科舉制度，以造就和選拔經世致用的“卿士之材”。慶曆四年，根據范仲淹《答手詔條陳十事》中的“精貢舉”和臺閣臣僚的詳議，對科舉與學校的結合、科舉考試的内容和方法等進行了一系列改革，實施了“立學合保薦送之法”、“先策論過落、簡詩賦考式、問諸科大義之法”及廢罷“州郡彌封、謄録，進士、諸科帖經”等新制。范仲淹的慶曆科舉改革具有明顯的進步意義。雖然隨着慶曆新政的夭折，這次科舉改革實施不到一年就被廢罷了，但它的影響却是巨大的。王安石的熙寧科舉改革就是范仲淹慶曆科舉改革的繼續和發展，其在很多方面，比范仲淹的慶曆科舉改革更爲堅決和徹底。

The reform of the national examination system (keju) was one of the important policies laid out by the ruling party led by Fan Zhongyan (989-1052) during the Qingli reign-period (1041-1048). As early as the early Tiansheng reign-period (1023-1032), Fan presented a number of memorials to the throne, advocating caution in selecting and promoting [candidates for officialdom]; seriousness in education and cultivation; and reforming the national examination system, in order to train and select individuals who were capable of management and governance and equipped with talents of chamberlains and scholars. In the fourth year of the Qingli reign-period (1044), reforms in accordance with Fan’s advocacy of “giving greater care to local selection and promotion [of candidates]” were discussed in great detail by the bureaucratic panels. These reforms had two focuses: the combination of the keju examination and education systems; and the content and format of the keju examination. Several new methods were implemented, including: combining schooling and selecting student-candidates; prioritizing tests in discussion of current events, simplifying tests in poetry composition, and asking questions on the general meanings of various subjects; “abolishment of blotting names of examinees for marking, copying answers given by examinees in prefectures and districts, cloze tests on the classics for Advanced Scholars and other exams”; and the like.

Fan’s reform of the keju examination system was of great significance. It had immense impact although, as the Qingli political reform was aborted, it was abolished after less than a year of implementation. Wang Anshi’s (1021-1086) reform of keju during the Xining reign-period (1068-1077) was substantially a further development of Fan’s. This later reform was more resolved and radical.