古代来华使节考论

An Examination of the Envoys from Different Countries Visiting the Ancient China

自两汉以降,古代来华的各国使节不断,数目众多,在唐代跃上了一个新的平台。明清两代,迎来了华夷秩序的巅峰期。各国来华使节的疏密情况,与中华帝国的盛衰状况、中华帝国对外经略的重心、以及遣使来华各国的社会发展需求,有着直接的、密切的关系。来华使节一般都肩负着多重的综合使命,如政治上建立、维系及增强双方的友好、亲善关系;经济上增强贸易联系、互通有无;文化上则是吸收、学习高度发展的古代中华文明,等等。古代各国来华的使节,在中国一般都受到极为友好和优厚的待遇。他们既是中外文明交汇的桥梁,又是中外文化交流的载体。他们不畏艰辛,万里来华;他们赠送来与流播去文明成果;他们为推动人类文明进步付出了可贵劳动。

Ever since the West Han and the East Han Dynasties, the number of envoys from different countries visiting the ancient China have reached a new climax in the Tang Dynasty. The Ming and Qing Dynasties have reached the peak of the order of the Chinese and the Aliens. That how often these envoys came to China have been closely and directly connected with the rise and fall of the Chinese Empire, with its focus on its foreign policies, and with the envoys' various demands for their social development. The envoys to the ancient China have on compositive missions such as to establish, to maintain and to develop mutual political friendship and amity; to boost up economic trade relations and exchanges,to imbibe nourishment from the highly developed ancient Chinese civilizations.These envoys have always received amity and great generosity in the ancient China. They have functioned both as the bridges to the mutual communication of the Sino-foreign civilizations and as the carriers of the cultural communications. They have traveled afar and managed to arrive in China in spite of tribulations and hardships. They have presented and spread the achievements of the civilizations and thus have pushed forward the progress of human civilizations by contributing their worshipful hard labor.