文明共生与族群秩序:清代对长城的废弃与坚守

Symbiosis of Civilization and Ethnic Order: Abandoning and Safeguarding Construction of the Great Wall in Qing Dynasty

长期以来,学术界和社会各界对清代是否修筑长城存在严重的误解,"清代不修长城""明代长城东起山海关"等观念很流行,对清代长城修筑的基本事实和评价也存在许多问题。出现这一现象的原因颇为复杂。如果我们把清代对长城的废弃与坚守置于传统中国的整体发展历程中,就会发现清朝统治者在致力于构建"大一统"王朝新型的民族关系和边疆秩序时,虽然不像明朝那样大规模地修筑"九边"长城,但也并没有完全放弃传统中国的长城防御策略,它既有对明代的长城进行修缮利用(如在东北、华北和西北地区的修建或改建),也有部分的新修长城(如西北和西南地区)。究其原因,长城防御是传统中国在处理不同文明类型下族群关系的长期探索的结果和成功实践。清朝对长城的废弃和坚守,表明长城不仅是军事防御工事,也是一条族群秩序线,有助于文明共生,它也因此成为中华文明的象征和共有的文化精神。

For a long time, there has been a serious misunderstanding within the academic circle about whether Qing Dynasty has contributed to the construction of the Great Wall.There are also many problems in the basic facts and evaluation of the Great Wall construction in Qing Dynasty. The reasons behind this are complicated. If we put the Qing Dynasty’s abandonment and adherence towards construction of the Great Wall in the overall development of China, we could find that Qing Dynasty rulers though did not build Great Wall in big scale as the Ming Dynasty, it did not abandon traditional China’s Great Wall defense strategy. The mixed strategy towards the function of the Great Wall of the Qing Dynasty indicates that the Great Wall is not only a military fortifications, but also an ethnic order line, benefiting civilization symbiosis and it also becomes the symbol of Chinese civilization and common cultural spirit.