科舉‧家族‧女德：明代楊文儷的志行詩作與家族科名

The Imperial Examination, Family, and Woman’s Virtue: Yang Wenli’s Poems and Family Fame in the Ming Dynasty

Abstract

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

楊文儷是明代女詩人，身歷嘉靖、隆慶、萬曆三朝，皆有子登第，聲名貫穿明、清兩代，爲科舉世界的傳奇女性。本文考察其生平，證明享年七十歲，世所謂“享壽百齡”，實爲誤傳。楊文儷謹守内職，不炫才，不居功，符合儒家傳統爲女、爲妻、爲母之道。其學識甚豐，通舉業之文，以之相夫教子，襄助得第。其詩歌多爲勸勉業舉，要求致身通顯，雖爲俗見，卻表出科舉世界的核心價值。楊文儷能詩善教，是具有原型意義的明代女德範例，其聲名的展露，來自科舉家族婚姻血緣的連結、科名與仕宦的榮顯，亦有盡責守分的道德自覺與家族承擔，樹立出鮮明的女德標竿，證明女性維持家庭及社會的穩固，襄助科舉制度的源遠流長。

Yang Wenli (ca. 1551) was a female poet of the Ming dynasty. She lived during the Jiajing, Longqing and Wanli eras (16^th century) and won her legendary renown throughout the Ming and Qing dynasties. This article examines her life and proves that she died at the age of 70. She observed the female morality of not showing off her talent, not taking credit, and conforming to being a Confucian moral woman, wife, and mother. She was proficient at writing eight-legged essays and was capable of caring for her family as well as being a mentor and fame-enabler to them. Most of her poems exhorted people to sit for the imperial examination and to get ahead. She was an archetype of female morality for those imperial families and was conscientious in moral education and family commitment. She set up a distinctive mother’s banner, proved that women maintained the stability of the family and society, and helped the imperial examination system last for a long time.