晚清科举中的矛盾现象及分析——谈科举考试的社会功能

1905年,中国历史上延续了1300年的科举制度被废除。一百多年来,对于科举制度的研究中,西方学者以置身事外的身份和历史社会学的眼光看得更为深刻和系统。近年来,重新认识科举的呼声在壮大。本文将科举制度与晚清的社会结构相联系,着重阐述清代社会危机下的科举制度所呈现出的矛盾现象,并以此为分析对象,探讨清代社会结构的变动及科举制度在这种变动之中体现出的社会功能,即在18世纪和19世纪的中国,由人口增长所引发的社会危机中,科举制度的存在成为缓和与转嫁这种危机的关键,发挥了强劲的社会调和的功能,进而使中国社会的稳定得到维持。

An Analysis of the Paradoxical Nature of the Civil Service System in Late Imperial China:Functions as Seen from the Social Structural Perspective

In 1905,an edict was promulgated in the Qing dynasty,all of the provincial and metropolitan examinations were halted,so did all the examinations per annum and curriculum.The civil examination system which lasted for over 1300 years was sentenced to a sudden death.When one century passed after the abolition of the system,ironically,it is western scholars who hold a more object and incisive view,starting from the historical sociological methodology,as onlookers on this age-old institution.As more Chinese scho...