在晚清社會,現代報刊媒介的"介入",打破了官方發布科舉新聞的閉環系統。報刊所報道的科舉新聞,對士人的資訊獲取、社交活動和思想觀念產生了深刻影響。報刊利用其自身的資訊優勢,印制鄉試、會試闈墨,刊登各類科考書籍廣告,從而實現科舉新聞與科場生意的"互動"與"互構",使"應試之書"與"必讀之報"之間形成更為緊密的聯系。尤其是在維新之后的數年間,"新聞化的西學"成為士子應試策論的思想資源,諸如"時務體"、"新民體"被視為應試的范本,士人熱衷于閱讀時務書報。科舉考試的內容轉向促使士人與現代報刊逐漸接近,這不僅是報刊傳媒的優勢所在,也是社會變革的一大趨向。

Under the impact of western learning and modern civilization,the imperial examination gradually declined in the late Qing dynasty. However,scholars still regarded the examination as the gateway to officialdom.The involvement of modern press broke the closed-loop system of the examination ’s official news publication. These newspapers had a profound impact on scholars’ information acquisition,social activities and ideas. Taking its advantage in information,the newspaper could print selections from papers of successful candidates at Provincial exams and Metropolitan exams and advertise exam-preparation books.Thus,it realized the interaction and mutual construction between the imperial examination news and the imperial examination hall business,so that there was a closer connection between the exam-oriented books and the must-read newspapers. Especially in the years after the modernization movement,western journalistic learning became the ideological resource of scholars ’ test-oriented theory. For example,Shiwu-style and Xinmin-style became the exam-taking model,and scholars were keen on reading books and newspaper in Shiwu-style. The imperial examination promoted scholars to be close to the modern newspapers,which was not only the advantage of newspapers,but also a trend of social change.