元代学官选注巡检考

元朝至治元年(1321)以后,为了缓解学官升转的困难,元政府将儒士出身的学官选注为以捕盗为主要职责的巡检官,这一政策的实施在当时引起激烈的争论。多数学官为了摆脱升迁的泥潭,自愿弃文从武,一些人还在巡检任上取得了明显的政绩。学官做巡检的现象是元朝特殊的社会环境决定的,反映了士人群体在处境不利的情况下改善自己生存环境的努力,是中国职官史上一段颇有意思的插曲。

The Selection of Inspector in Yuan Dynasty

From the first year of Zhiyuan (1321) of Yuan Dynasty, the Yuan government decided to select inspector, whose duty was mainly to capture the thief, from civilian to solve the problem of those civilian's promotion. The implementation of the policy caused a heated argument. Most of the civilian voluntarily abnegated their position and took the new position as an inspector to realize their wish of promotion. Some of them made obvious contribution on their position. The phenomenon of the transformation from civilian to inspector was decided by the special social environment and it reflected the effort of those civilian who were in a disadvantage circumstance but wanted to change their living environment. It was also an interesting episode in the official system in Chinese history.