“苗疆再造”与铸牢国家意识的历史经验

The Historical Experience of“Rebuilding the Miao Frontiers”and Forging the National Consciousness

对于铸牢国家意识来说,中国历代中央王朝持续不断地建构统一的多民族国家认同有历史经验可循。尤其是清朝,前期的帝王对内自行建构起一套自身为“天下共主”的民族观。在这一新民族观的主导下,康熙、雍正、乾隆在“苗疆再造”过程中,对待苗民的态度采用“帝王赤子”(“君主”与“臣民”)来消解“华夏蛮夷”(“文明”与“野蛮”)的叙事。雍正、乾隆打破传统中国“夷夏之辨”把南方各少数民族视为“蛮夷”的偏见,认为“苗、瑶、倮、僮”等皆属“赤子”,都可以通过教化“共敦善俗,永息刁风”。雍正、乾隆把清王朝境内的诸多族群都一视同仁地当作“赤子”,把自身建构为“天下共主”,这具有积极的文化意义,强化了各族人民的向心力与国家认同。值得注意的是,18世纪末,乾隆在面对英国要求扩大通商事宜上却继续套用“夷夏之辨”的理论武器,来对抗工业革命后迅速崛起的西方资本主义文明。

In terms of forging a sense of community for the Chinese nation,successive central dynasties in Chinese history conceivably have provided valuable experience for constructing a unified multi-ethnic country and cultivating an identification with it.Records in ancient classical Chinese literature,such as Shijing(The Book of Songs),Shangshu(Book of Documents),and Shiji(Historical Records),seem to demonstrate the Huaxia people’s longing for political unity,and also set a blueprint for constructing an ideal society under the political concept of benevolent governance.Besides,many would argue that the Huaxia occupied the high ground and created an atmosphere of rejecting ethnic minorities in ideology and culture for a long time.However,their purpose was not to destroy the Yi(minorities)but to assimilate the Yi into Xia culture.Although the Man,Rong,Yi,and Di(minorities in ancient China)feared the expansion of the Huaxia people’s political power,they did admire their culture.Upon entering the Central Plains,they activily learned Huaxia culture.And both sides showed a common cultural identification.Therefore,this shared cultural identification of the Yi and Xia became an inexhaustible source of cohesion for all ethnic groups in China,which promoted a widespread development and integration of all ethnic groups and became the ideological template for the formation of the unified multi-ethnic country of China.The central dynasties constantly strengthened the national identification of all their subjects,and promoted the formation of a unified multi-ethnic state.During the early Qing Dynasty,the emperors abandoned the concept of“Differentiation between the Yi and Xia”,and instead adopted a national school of thought that was named“the common master of the world”.Under the guidance of this new national concept,emperors—such as Kangxi,Yongzheng,and Qianlong—built an“Emperor and loyalist”(or“monarch”and“subject”)relationship with the Miao people in order to fight against the narrative of“Huaxia-Manyi”(“civilization”and“barbarism”)in the process of“rebuilding the Miao frontiers”.Moreover,Yongzheng and Qianlong broke the traditional Chinese prejudice caused by the“Differentiation between the Yi and Xia”which regarded the ethnic minorities in the south as“barbarians”.Instead they believed that the“Miao,Yao,Luo and Tong”were all“loyal people”who could be civilized into“forming good habits together and permanently laying off evil practices”.Yongzheng and Qianlong regarded many ethnic communities within the territory of the Qing Empire as“loyalists”and established themselves as“the common master of the world”—This appeared to have a positive cultural impact and strengthened the centripetal force and national identification of all ethnic peoples.From the perspective of the history of the Chinese nation,the discussion of“Differentiation between Yi and Xia”during the reign of Yongzheng,as well as the subsequent order of Yongzheng that required all Confucian scholars to be familiar with the Dayi Juemi Lu(Record of the Great Sense of Understanding),were conducive to the formation of a unified multiethnic national identification,and also a crucial factor leading to the development of the concept of“the Chinese nation”in modern times.