从“关限”至“废垒”:明至民国嘉峪关的意象变迁

From the "Foremost Gate"(“关限”) to the "Forsaken Fortress"(“废垒”):the Changing Image of Jiayuguan from the Ming Dynasty to the Republic of China

长城要塞嘉峪关,作为一座见证大漠风云五百余年的关城,其存在形式随着王朝的更迭在人们观念中几经变迁。明人将其视为华夷"关限",清人视其为"鬼门关",民国时更视其为"废垒"。这些意象,是对其在国家场域中总体特征的描述,成了具有特定属性的象征性符号。意象的变迁,表面是自然之形的改变,实质是关城新旧功能的演替,动力源于国家疆界的变动及国家边疆策略的调整。

Jiayuguan was an important fortress city in the west point of the Great Wall,which witnessed five hundred years of history in this grand desert area,and its images in people's mind underwent changes following the changing dynasties.In the Ming Dynasty,people saw it as a 'foremost gate',separating the Huaxia people and the ethnicities.In the Qing Dynasty,people saw it as a 'ghost gate',indicating the desolation and difficulties on the road beyond it to the Western Region.In the period of Republic of China,people saw it as a 'forsaken fortress'.These images symbolized not just the changing natural form,but more of the changed functions this fortress city had provided in each changed dynasty or period,which was defined by frontier changing of different dynasties or state and their policies to administrate the frontier area.