以中原为中心的历史趋势的形成

The Historical Process toward the Centricity of Central Plains

中国有句成语叫做“逐鹿中原”，意思是说，谁占据了中原谁就能统治中国。这个成语在相当程度上反映了几千年的中国历史上，中原地区既是一个政治活动的核心地区，同时也是文化核心地区的历史趋势。作为一种趋势，它有时强劲突显，有时也软弱黯然。但在周、秦、汉、唐、宋、明、清这几个最强盛的历史朝代里，这个趋势表现得尤为醒目。因此，它确是中国历史上一个主流现象。

The Central Plains was China's political center and cultural nucleus as well in histo- ry. The author takes an archaeological look at the Chinese society from 5000 to 2500 years BC, and analyses the rise and fall of different archaeological cultures and their relation- ship. He then inquires into the growth of the Central Plains into China's center, a pro- cess that began, as he believes, somewhere between 3000 and 2500 years BC.