耶律阿保机建国方略考——兼论非汉族政权之汉化命题

An Examination of the State-building Strategy of Yelu Abaoji:with a Discussion of the Topic of Sinicization of Non-Han Regimes

耶律阿保机建立大契丹国之初即有意逐鹿中原,这一北族新政权一开始就表现出强烈的汉化色彩。在两度率大军南征未果后,阿保机定下了先取漠北及渤海之策。不过,平渤海后他意外辞世,入主中原终成未竟之业。而阿保机为亲自选定的继承人耶律倍设计的汉式教育,也说明在他看来,要实现入主中原的雄图大业,关键在于汉化。在这一意义上,近年来西方学界基于相对主义立场批判中国古代诸北族王朝研究中汉化命题的潮流,有失偏颇,在很多情境下反而离历史上政治人物的真实立场渐行渐远。

When the Khitan Empire was first established,Yelu Abaoji intended to conquer central China,so from its beginning this northern regime already showed a strongly Sinicized character.After two unsuccessful military expeditions to the south,Abaoji formulated the strategy of first taking the Mobei and Bohai regions.He died unexpectedly after defeating the kingdom of Bohai,leaving the conquest of the Central Plains an unfinished goal.Abaoji's designated successor Yelu Bei designed an educational system in the Han style;this shows that in his view,the key to the great enterprise of taking over central China was sinicization.In this sense,the recent trend in Western academia of relativist criticism of the sinicization of the northern tribes in ancient China is a biased one.In many situations,this criticism is far from the true position of historical political figures.