Abstract
“The Central Kingdom” is pregnant of political implications as well as of geographical and cultural significance. It was believed that whoever controlled Zhongguo (the Central Kingdom or China) would be the legitimate ruler over Tianxia (the realm under heaven or all under heaven). It was the contention for “the Central Kingdom” among the varieties of dynasties, notably those established by the Han-Chinese and the various ethnic groups in the northern borderland, that lead to the alternation of disintegration and unification of the territory. It was not until the Qing Dynasty that the unified “Central Kingdom” composed of a variety of ethnic groups turned into the ideal “realm under heaven” with “the Central Kingdom” at its core, which naturally put an end to the formation of territory in ancient China.
摘要
“中国” 一词并非单纯的地域或文化观念, 也有丰富的政治含义, 其中围绕 “中国” 形成的 “中国” 为 “天下” 中心、 且据之可以成为正统王朝的观念, 对古代中国疆域的形成产生了重大影响。 正是众多民族尤其是汉和北疆民族建立的王朝或政权不断争夺 “中国”, 导致了现实中疆域分布格局不断出现分裂和统一的反复交替。 至清代, 理想中的以 “中国”为核心的大一统的 “天下”, 和现实中的统一多民族国家实现了重合, 古代中国的疆域也由此完成了凝聚的过程。
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Translated by Chen Dan from Zhongguo Bianjiang Shidi Yanjiu 中国边疆史地研究 (China’s Borderland History and Geography Studies), 2007, (3): 1–15
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Li, D. “The Central Kingdom” and “the realm under heaven” coming to mean the same: The process of the formation of territory in ancient China. Front. Hist. China 3, 323–352 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11462-008-0016-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11462-008-0016-1