晚清進士館研究：天子門生的轉型困境與契機

The Jinshi Academy in the Late Qing Period: Opportunities and Difficulties in the Transformation of the Emperor’s Elite Students

晚清進士館之設，專為已獲最高科舉功名的天子門生進行法政再教育。政府欲令新科進士入館修習，期以速成，俾佐晚清新政。清廷斥資設館、詳定章程、延聘名師，且進士免費入館、厚以廩餼，可謂意美法良。但新科進士對入館進學，卻多方推諉規避。進士館的設置與運作，反映出晚清中央政府與官員群體之間，對「開官智」議題存在分歧。清廷所關注者，在政治的穩定、新政的展開、國祚的延續，因此不惜耗費人力物力，多方創造條件以開其官員群體之智。而官員群體所在意者，不在自身知識水平及行政能力對整體政局的影響，而在一己政治前途。雙方對此各懷異志，極大削弱了進士館的教學成效。清廷開設此館，用心良苦，但未收其效，已失其政。若跨越晚清十年的局限、超越滿人部族的成敗，以制度史與教育史的「長程視野」檢視進士館的開設及影響，則應指出：進士館的設立，標誌著天子門生教育的重要轉型──從研習經史辭章的「庶常館」系統，過渡到接受法政經濟教育的「進士館」系統。從法制史角度而言，以「開官智」為目標的進士館教育，拉開了近代中國系統法政教育的帷幕。進士館的再教育經歷，為進士這一傳統文化精英群體因應近代中國社會轉型，提供了難得的契機。

The Jinshi Academy 進士館 was founded specially to re-educate the emperor’s elite students 天子門生—holders of the highest imperial degree granted through palace examination—in law and politics. Searching for a quick way to implement the New Reform, the late Qing government required the new jinshi to enroll in the Jinshi Academy. This paper reveals that the government had generously invested in the establishment of this academy; that the school had elaborately-formulated regulations; and that its teachers were well-qualified. Moreover, not only were the newly-admitted jinshi not required to pay any fees, they were also entitled to receive considerable stipends. The jinshi, however, were not willing to attend the academy. They were interested in their own political careers and not government efficiency or politics in general, while the Manchu rulers were concerned with political stability, the implementation of the New Reform, and the continuation of governance. This shows how divergent the jinshi idea of “developing the wisdom of government officials” 開官智 was from the late Qing government’s. These differences between the government and its officials had an extraordinarily negative effect on the operation of the Jinshi Academy. The late Qing government spared no effort to set up the academy, yet the Manchus never obtained satisfactory results. It should be pointed out that the Jinshi Academy symbolizes an essential transformation of the education of the emperor’s elite students, namely, from the Shuchang Academy 庶常館 system focusing on Confucian classics and historiography, to the Jinshi Academy system in which modern legal and political knowledge was highly emphasized. In addition, the Jinshi Academy initiated systematic legal education in modern China. The re-education experiences in the Jinshi Academy provided these traditional cultural elites with a rare opportunity during the social transformation to modern China.