由於儒家忠君觀念的影響，中國史上列代鼎革前後，士人都必須作出生死與仕隱的抉擇。宋代以來這種抉擇變得更為嚴峻，因為道學忠君觀念的絕對化及夷、夏王朝的相互更迭。「君臣大義」與「夷夏之辨」的相立交參，對世變時代士人的抉擇構成空前的壓力。 元朝是中國史上第一個由游牧民族所肇建而統治全中國的「征服王朝」，元明易代具有漢族光復全國的重大意義。而元朝為一多元族群之社會，各族士人的政治利益相差頗大，與元廷的關係亦不相同，各族士人對元朝覆亡的反應自然不盡相同。 本文擬以各族進士為中心，探討士人對元明鼎革的各種反應。本文共蒐集元明之際一百四十四名進士之資料，而將其所作政治抉擇歸為三類：一、「忠元」型，包括殉國忠義、北歸外奔、守節遺民，佔總人數的百分之六十點四；二、「背元」型：包括出仕群雄及明朝的貳臣，佔百分之三十一點三；三、「逸民」，乃指元亡前自動歸隱者，佔百分之八點三。換言之，元明鼎革雖是「由夷入夏」，但多數進士選擇忠於元朝。這一結果與宋元之際南宋進士對易代的反應相比較，兩者相差不大。 自族群差異言之，「忠元」型進士中，四大族群皆各佔一定比率，顯示元末進士殉國或守節是一超越族群藩籬的現象。不僅多數蒙古、色目進士作出「忠元」的抉擇，甚多漢人，尤其是最受歧視的南人，也為元朝殺身或守節。而在「背元」及「隱遁」型的進士中極少蒙古、色目人，反映這兩族群對元廷具有強烈「同舟一命」的認同感。 以上論述足以顯示：真正影響元明之際士人政治抉擇的因素是「君臣大義」，而不是「夷夏之辨」。

In every dynastic transition in Chinese history, literati had to make a critical choice between life and death and between whether to serve or not to serve under the new regime. Since Song times, this kind of choice became more compulsive because of Neo-Confucian demand of absolute loyalty of subjects to their sovereign and the alternations between the Chinese and the “barbarian” rules. The concept of absolute loyalty of subjects to their sovereign and that of “distinction between the Chinese and the barbarians” competed against each other in attracting the adherence of the literati in the periods of dynastic change. China under the Yuan was a multiethnic society which was comprised not only the conquering Mongols and Semu but also the conquered Northern and Southern Chinese. Since the replacement of the Mongol Yuan rule by the native Ming dynasty in the mid-fourteenth century had significant ethnic implications, the literati of various ethnic groups naturally would react differently to this dynastic turnover. This paper uses the data of 144 multiethnic Jinshi (the “palace graduates”), as the main basis for our analysis of various political choices made by literati in the Yuan-Ming transition. As our findings show, 60.4% of the 144 chose to take actions loyal to the Yuan cause, either to die as martyrs, or to flee to Mongolia or to Korea, or to become loyalist remnants under the Ming rule. 31.3 % chose to forsake the Yuan cause by accepting offices either under various rebel regimes or under the succeeding Ming dynasty. 8.3% chose to withdraw from politics before the fall of the Yuan. The results clearly indicate that the majority of Jinshi chose loyalist actions in spite of the fact that the Yuan was an alien dynasty. Compared with the Jinshi reactions to the Song- Yuan transition, the proportion of loyalists and those who had abandoned the causes of the old regimes in these two dynastic transitions differ little from each other. From the perspective of ethnic groups, loyalty to the Yuan cause was a phenomenon that surpassed ethnic differences. As many Northern and Southern Chinese Jinshi as the Mongol and Semu chose the loyalist actions. But, nearly none of the Mongol and Semu Jinshi betrayed the Yuan cause, reflecting the fact that the literati of these two groups had very strong identity with the Yuan reglme. As our findings show, the decisive ideological factor in influencing the literati’s political choices in the Yuan-Ming transition was political loyalty to the throne, not the loyalty to one’s ethnic group.