明代科舉中的罰科及其影響

A Study of the Punishment System for the Imperial Civil Service Examination during the Ming Dynasty

明代罰科是一種針對考生舞弊、違規、不法、不良等行為，取消其繼續參加科舉考試的懲罰性措施。它的起始時間，並不是明朝人沈德符（1578-1642）認為的萬曆二十八年（1600），也不是嘉靖十六年（1537），而是更早的洪武十八年（1385）；其終結時間為崇禎十六年（1643）。明代罰科次數超過31次，被罰科者超過235人。罰科的發生，除了被罰者自身的原因之外，還有政治鬥爭的因素。罰科主要有兩種類型，一是針對當科未完成科舉考試者，一是針對中式者。是否保留科舉功名和罰科數的多少，乃是衡量罰科輕重程度的主要指標。明代罰科除了前代已涉及的鄉試、會試、殿試之外，還涉及科考。被罰科者的歸宿是限滿之後，重新回到正常的科舉中式或落第的軌道上，然而能夠考中進士者同樣是少數。明代罰科既產生了某些積極的作用，也不可避免地造成一些消極影響。它上承宋元的殿舉，下啟清代的罰科，具有特別的地位。

During the Ming Dynasty, the punishment system for the imperial civil service examination were the punitive measures taken against examinees for committing fraud, violating regulations, committing crimes, and bad behaviour, all of which would disqualify an examinee from continuing to participate in examinations. The system was implemented not in the 1600, as the contemporary writer Shen Defu claimed, but in the 1385 and it came to an end in 1643. During the Ming Dynasty, the number of the examination punishments exceeded thirty-one, and the number of persons punished exceeded 235. In addition to the actual violations by individuals, there were also political reasons for the system’s implementation. There were two main types of punishments for examinees. One was for those who did not complete the imperial civil service examination, and the other was for those who did complete it. Whether or not an examinee retained their examination title and the number of times they were punished were the main factors affecting the severity of the punishment. The examination punishment system included not only the provincial examination, the metropolitan examination, the final imperial examination, but also the preliminary examination. Once the term of punishment was served, candidates normally returned to the examination track. In the Ming Dynasty, the examination punishment system had both positive and negative effects. It was part of the legacy of the palace examination system of the Song and the Yuan dynasties, and it paved the way for the punishment system used for the imperial civil service examinations during the Qing Dynasty. It therefore has a special status in the history of China’s imperial examination systems.